Thanks to Blaise Lucey, my oldest and dearest friend and fellow writer, who shared with me worlds when we were young and words when we were old. And to my other first readers: to Peter Watts, for taking a chance; to Allen More, for understanding; to Isabelle Boemeke, for her encouragement and her insight into the world of professional modeling; and to Katrin Redfern, for her writerly eye.

Thanks to my mother, Susan Little, for life and for books and for care and for love. And to the rest of the staff of Jabberwocky Bookshop, for helping raise a writer.

And, of course, thanks to Julia Buntaine Hoel, first of readers, first of women, first, first, first.