October 2010

Dear Reader,

Tara Hudson is a brand-new author, but her fascination with ghosts goes back to childhood days spent with her grandmother, who would take her out to a strange cemetery guarded by rusted iron gates and tucked into the mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. Only later did she learn that this place was her family’s graveyard. Ever since, she’s continued to visit cemeteries—with her two closest girl friends. After a particularly eerie visit, she began writing a story to entertain them, imagining a ghost girl, Amelia, and the living boy who can truly see her. It became Hereafter, the haunting story of loss and first love you hold in your hands.

I know you’ve heard other editors say what I must say now: “I couldn’t stop reading it! I was immediately compelled to know more.” Isn’t that what we all crave, a book that immediately transports us to a different place and lets us be with characters we really care about? For me Hereafter is such a book, and I hope it will be for you as well.

If you have thoughts you’d like to share and some moments to spare, I’d be so pleased to hear from you at barbara.lalicki@harpercollins.com.

Very best,

Barbara Lalicki

SVP & Editorial Director

P.S. Becca Fitzpatrick, author of the New York Times bestseller Hush, Hush, called Hereafter “a tender and poignant love story with a ghostly twist,” and Andrea Cremer, author of Nightshade, said, “Twisting together chilling mystery and sweet romance, Hereafter leaves the possibilities of a world unseen lingering in your mind and your heart long after you’ve turned the final page.”