“Maybe is good,” he says, and walks across the threshold.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’M DEEPLY GRATEFUL TO SO MANY PEOPLE FOR TOO many things, especially:
My beloved husband, Bert (always my first reader), daughters, Abigail and Robin (both accomplished writers and gifted editors), and son, David (a trained chef and restaurant manager), for their close reading of this novel, their invaluable critiques, and their loving support—and for saving me from my excesses.
At Kuhn Projects, the amazing Nicole Tourtelot, my indefatigable literary agent, for placing the book in its perfect publishing home, and David Kuhn, founder of the agency, for his continuing wisdom and loyalty.
At the Feminist Press, its executive director and publisher, Jennifer Baumgardner, who, as my editor and advocate, has both midwifed and mothered the novel from start to finish, empathizing with its characters and challenging me to tell their stories with ever more clarity and depth; assistant editor, Julia Berner-Tobin, for her sensitivity, sharp eye, and consistent commitment to excellence; and art director, Drew Stevens, for creating the book’s superb jacket and overall design, and for his genial openness to my input.
Friend and lawyer, Herbert Teitelbaum, who, in one memorable conversation, vividly conjured the world of the schvitz, and in another, explained the difference between civilian and military law in terms of First Amendment rights.
Old friends, Leonard Majzlin and Carol Hall for acquainting me with some of the marvelous Texas idioms and down-home expressions that they came to relish during their time in Buffalo Gap.
My cousin, Priscilla Darvie Donohue, a Bronx girl, who, by sharing her childhood with this Queens girl left me with indelible images of life on the other side of the Whitestone Bridge.
Ms. magazine—of which I’m a founding editor and where I happily worked for eighteen years—whose dedication to illuminating the intersection of gender, race, and class, continues to educate and inspire me. (www.MsMagazine.com)
And finally, Janet Dewart Bell, Helen Fremont, Marcia Gillespie, Anne Roiphe, Thane Rosenbaum, Menachem Rosensaft, Dani Shapiro, and Ayelet Waldman, who so generously took time from their own work to read this novel in galleys and provide the sort of endorsements a writer can only dream of.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN is an author, journalist, lecturer, and social justice activist. A founding editor of Ms. magazine, where she worked for twenty years, Pogrebin is also the author of eleven books, the editor of the popular anthology Stories for Free Children, and the editorial consultant on Free to Be . . . You and Me. She lives in New York City with her husband Bert, an attorney.
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ABOUT FEMINIST PRESS
The Feminist Press is a nonprofit educational organization founded to amplify feminist voices. FP publishes classic and new writing from around the world, creates cutting-edge programs, and elevates silenced and marginalized voices in order to support personal transformation and social justice for all people.
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