Jabberwocky
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
—Lewis Carroll
Acknowledgments
I spent nearly two years writing More than Words, and it has morphed more than any project I’ve ever worked on. The setting went from Washington, D.C., to Ithaca, New York, to New York City. The characters had different professions, different sexual orientations, different roles in each other’s lives. Some characters who started out dead in one draft ended up alive in another, and vice versa. And some characters were deleted from one draft only to crop up again in a later draft in a slightly different form. I wouldn’t have been able to write this book without the support of a huge community of friends and family who talked to me about the story, read various versions of it, and understood when I disappeared into my work.
This book was written after my father died in a car accident and while many people I care a lot about were fighting cancer. They and all the people who love them were in my heart while writing this story. The character Leslie was named after my remarkable high school Spanish teacher, Leslie Walker, who lost her battle with cancer in September 2016. And while Joseph Gregory and my father, John Santopolo, are very different men, they both loved their daughters dearly and had a penchant for driving classic cars. This book is dedicated to my dad because he showed me how powerful the love between a father and daughter can be. And how much losing a beloved father can change someone’s world.
More Than Words never would have been finished if it weren’t for Miriam Altshuler, my superhero of a literary agent, who is also a dear friend. Thank you, Miriam, for being there whenever I needed an encouraging word, a dose of reality, a person to vent—or to cry—to, and someone to champion me and my work; you are truly one of the best people I know. And Tara Singh Carlson, thank you for pulling out your editorial warrior skills for this one. At this point, I’m pretty sure you were born, alongside Wonder Woman, on Themiscyra, with your own lasso of truth, bracelets of submission, and Amazonian sword, used to slay unwieldy manuscripts. Thank you, too, to the team at Putnam who worked tirelessly to promote The Light We Lost while I was writing and who designed, copyedited, marketed, publicized, and sold both my books with such care. Thank you especially to Ivan Held, Christine Ball, Sally Kim, Helen Richard, Leigh Butler, Tom Dussel, Kate Boggs, Alexis Welby, Ashley Hewlett, Stephanie Hargadon, Madeline Schmitz, Ashley McClay, Brennin Cummings, Jordan Aaronson, Kelly Gildea, Katie Punia, Sanny Chiu, Anthony Ramondo, Monica Cordova, Ben Lee, Andrea St. Aubin, and Maija Baldauf. And thank you to the folks at Penguin Young Readers, too—especially at Philomel Books—for being so awesome and supportive while I wrote and promoted and juggled everything. Thanks, too, to Reese Witherspoon, Emma Roberts, Karah Preiss, Danielle and Carly at the Skimm, and all of the authors, reviewers, publishers, and readers all over the world who embraced my first book so fully.
I also want specifically to thank the people who read drafts of More Than Words and the ones who provided information I needed along the way. Thank you to my writers’ group—Marianna Baer, Anne Heltzel, Marie Rutkoski, and Eliot Schrefer—for all of their helpful feedback on multiple iterations of this story. Thank you to my friends Talia Benamy, Gillian Engberg, Sarah Fogelman, Kimberly Grant, Nick Schifrin, and Ruby Shamir, who so graciously offered to read a version or two of More Than Words and provide their insights into love, loss, politics, New York, and so much more. Thank you to my sister Alison May, who went on a research trip with me, offered her medical expertise, and gave me notes on the story, too. Thank you to Rebecca Bloom and Eleanor Coufos for answering my questions about Brearley and Bronx Science. Thank you to Matthew Grieco for making sure I got my Jeopardy! facts straight. Thank you to Tom Barron, Robyn Bender, Jordan Epstein, and my grandfather Larry Franklin for teaching me about how businesses work and proper—and improper—accounting practices. Thank you to all of the folks I worked with as a volunteer at Hillary for America—especially the wonderful HardCorr team—for showing me what strong, powerful, and passionate people are involved in politics. You are all so inspiring. And to everyone else whom I asked random questions at parties or dinners or on Facebook about Spanish phrases or politics or business or New York City in the ’80s and ’90s, thank you for answering (thank you especially to Christina Diaz Gonzales, who taught me the phrase “se te están pegando las pestañas”).
And, as always, thank you to my family—especially my mom, Beth, and sisters, Ali and Suzie—for being my anchor. We are stronger together, and I’m so glad we have each other for support in times of challenge and in times of happiness. And to Andrew Claster, whose love makes me want to be the very best version of myself: I love you more than words and am so glad we exist in the universe where you and I get to be together. Thank you for being you.
About the Author
Jill Santopolo received a BA in English literature from Columbia University and an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She's the author of three successful children's and young-adult series and works as the Associate Publisher of Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Santopolo travels the world to speak about writing and storytelling. She is the author of The Light We Lost, a national and international bestseller that has been translated into more than thirty languages. More Than Words is her second novel for adults. She lives in New York City.
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