ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It’s a long road toward a first book. Thank you to Sarah Bowlin for being the first to believe in this project and for shepherding it through every stage with wisdom and care. To Emily Bell, for your brilliant editorial vision. To Jackson Howard, Chandra Wohleber, Alexis Nowicki, Abby Kagan, and the entire team at FSG, and to Thomas Colligan for the beautiful cover design. To Željka Marošević, for being such a sharp and thoughtful editor and for sending me the metallic tote bag of my dreams.
I’m forever grateful to the graduate program at Columbia University and the Clein-Lemann Esperanza Fellowship. Thank you to the writing program at San Francisco State and the generous people behind the Bambi Holmes Award. Special thanks to Matthew Clark Davison for your mentorship during that time.
To Anthony Marra, Julie Buntin, and Rachel Khong for your early support.
To Lizzie Harris, for being as generous a reader as you are a person, and to Andrew Eisenman, for many years of friendship and for introducing me to Lizzie.
To Kate Cornell, who taught me so much in the hours spent away from this book, and to Eustacio Humphrey.
To my California and New York families and friends, whose love has been my lifeline. To Uncle Ron, avid reader, who helped me at a time when I needed it most.
To my parents and my brother, whose love has guided me my entire life, and whom I love with more words than can fill a book. And to my dear sister.
To Samuel, for the insane happiness you have brought to all of us.
And to Adam, who has been with this project since before the beginning, who read hundreds of drafts with patience and intelligence, whose opinion I value most of all. Without you, none of this.
A Note About the Author
Ashley Nelson Levy received her MFA from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Clein-Lemann Esperanza Fellowship. Her work has received a notable mention in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and she is a recipient of the Bambi Holmes Award for Emerging Writers. In 2015, she cofounded Transit Books, an independent publishing house with a focus on international literature. This is her first book. You can sign up for email updates here.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Begin Reading
Acknowledgments
A Note About the Author
Copyright
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
120 Broadway, New York 10271
Copyright © 2021 by Ashley Nelson Levy
All rights reserved
First edition, 2021
Hand-lettering by Thomas Colligan
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-374-60143-0
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
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