If this were a movie, it would make for a terrible ending.
But it’s not, and it isn’t.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am supremely grateful to Allison Lorentzen, Norma Barksdale, and the entire team at Viking, not just for shepherding this story to publication with tenderness and skill, but also for the incredible patience they have demonstrated over the past five years. I had to write three hundred pages of a terrible book before I could get to this one, and a lesser publisher would have made me put that terrible book out into the world. Thank you all for your faith in me.
As ever, none of this would be possible—on levels both mundane and profound—were it not for my agent, Kate Garrick.
My first readers—Ellen Amato, Megan Crane, David Lapidus, Robyn Morrison, and Scott Korb—managed to talk me through the mess that was my rough draft without killing my self-esteem, and for that I can’t thank them enough.
Sam Chidley at The Karpfinger Agency also read the manuscript in its early stages. I can’t imagine what this book would look like without the benefit of his notes, which were unparalleled in their discernment. Ivy McFadden had the unenviable task of copyediting my sentences, which she did with grace and aplomb, nudging plot, characters, and dialogue into place along the way.
Steph Cha, batting cleanup, helped guide me through one last pass, generously allowing me to leech onto her exquisite sense of language and character.
All mistakes are my own. Anything you like is almost certainly due to the hard work and generous spirit of the people listed here; otherwise, it probably comes from Fleabag season 2.
My friends and family have put up with so much from me over the past few years—but I have also put up with so much from them, without hesitation, and I will neither thank them here nor require thanks from them in return. I will, instead, continue to love them and support them and make space for them as long as I am lucky enough to be able to do so.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Little is the author of Dear Daughter, which won the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel, and two works of nonfiction, Biting the Wax Tadpole and Trip of the Tongue. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
Pretty as a Picture Page 31
