ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A novel may be drafted in solitude, but it’s never finished alone.

I’d like to thank my agent, Sara Crowe, for sweeping in with precision revisions and a battle plan to find Iris the perfect home against the odds and conventional wisdom. It was a glorious siege. Many thanks to Wendy Loggia, a rare, wonderful editor who offers critique, encouragement and line edits; it’s so good to have a partner with vision—thank you.

There are so many wonderful people who contributed to making this book. I’d like to thank Colleen and Carrie for their thorough copyedits, Trish for her brilliant design, and Chad Michael Ward for bringing Iris off the page and onto the cover. Big Deb thanks to Heidi R. Kling and R. J. Anderson for brainstorming titles with me. Thanks also to Chief Deputy Anthony Barcala of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Department for clarifying ranks and responsibilities, and to the Louisiana Native Plant Society for those little details that are so important.

I must thank my English teacher Mary Redman, who was a lover of words and who taught me to be one, too. A fresh thank-you to Estlin Feigley for giving me a voice on the screen and for listening to mine behind it. And I owe so much to Doris Egan, an unparalleled mentor, who taught me how to write a killer breakout, and what kind of woman in the arts I want to be.

My mom, Sheryl Jern, I can’t thank enough—for teaching me the absolute value of perseverance and the beauty of seeing something through to the very end. Great, goddessy thanks to Susan Bettis, who always said “When you write your novel” and never “If.” I owe universes of thanks to my partner in crime, in shining armor, and in all things mystical, Ashley “Arianna” Lockwood.

So many thanks to LaTonya Dargan, whose advice as my literary attorney I took entirely and whose opinion as my fellow Virgobrain I value immeasurably. Great thanks to Rebecca Sherman for all her hard work in rendering a tight, thin book out of a shamelessly bloated draft.

Thanks to Rachel Green, who read the first draft and said, “This is a young adult novel,” and to everyone on my manuscript filter, for your faith and support when Iris was nothing but five-hundred-word previews, completely out of context.

I’d like to acknowledge Blahblahblah, who wants to live forever, and to thank everyone at Metafilter for offering inspiration and procrastination in one convenient location.

I’m grateful to and grateful for, blessed by and honored to have my husband, Jason Walters, and my best friend, Wendi Finch, as my partners in this and in all things. They’ve suffered every low, celebrated every high; they’ve shared their ideas, helped me perfect mine. They coddle or kick me at exactly the right intervals, and I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve them. All I know is that they’ve been here since the beginning, and the one thing I have faith in is that they’ll be there in the end.

And finally, I don’t believe a book is really done until it’s been read, so thank you—yes, you. I’m so glad we finished this book together.