Thank you to the amazing Alice Tasman, for encouragement and commitment and generosity and good humor. Many, many thanks to Claire Wachtel and Julia Novitch, for shepherding this novel with sharp insight and careful attention.

I was lucky to benefit from the support of the Ragdale Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council during the writing of this book. My friends and teachers at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference offered inspiration and guidance; I especially thank Margot Livesey, whose incisive comments were invaluable.

Thank you to my Chicago writers’ group, particularly Elizabeth Crane, Gina Frangello, and Thea Goodman, for fellowship and smart suggestions. Liam Callanan and Valerie Laken read early drafts and provided wise counsel and essential friendship. Thank you to Simon Canick, for helping me with elder law research, and to Peter Adams, for advice about the restaurant world; any remaining errors are mine alone. I learned about early American rail stations and agents from George H. Douglas’s informative and engaging All Aboard!: The Railroad in American Life (Paragon House, NY: 1992).

Thank you to the wonderful Sandmeyer’s Bookstore in Chicago, and also to Savories Coffee Shop, where much of this novel was written. I am hugely grateful for Caitlin Carlino, good friend to my family and babysitter extraordinaire.

For cheering me on, thank you to Lauryn Gouldin, Bonnie Gunzenhauser, Jenny Mercein, Caroline Hand Romita, and Julie Sanford. For believing in me, lots of gratitude to my much-loved family: Alan and Elizabeth Gray (to whom this novel is dedicated), Lowrey Gray Redmond, Jocelyn Gray, and Malcolm Gray.

Finally, to my daughters, Samantha and Wendy, and to my husband, Courtney: thank you. I love you.