The Imperfects
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Gerstenblith, Patty. Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law: Cases and Materials. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2004.
Goodman, Simon. The Orpheus Clock: The Search for My Family’s Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis. New York: Scribner, 2015.
O’Connor, Anne-Marie. The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. New York: Knopf, 2012.
Wittman, Robert K., and John Shiffman. Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010.
Jewish Children Refugees
Baumel, Judith Tydor. Unfulfilled Promise: Rescue and Resettlement of Jewish Refugee Children in the United States, 1934–1945. Juneau, Alaska: Denali Press, 1990.
Jason, Philip K., and Iris Posner, eds. Don’t Wave Goodbye: The Children’s Flight from Nazi Persecution to American Freedom. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.
Pressman, Steven, and Paul A. Shapiro. 50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple’s Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany. New York: Harper, 2014.
Acknowledgments
As I sit here, compiling a list of everyone who deserves more praise and gratitude than I can possibly offer in these acknowledgments, I’m amazed at just how many people it’s taken to bring this book into being. First, to my publishing family: my always-supportive agent, Stephanie Cabot, her wonderful assistant, Ellen Coughtrey, and Rebecca Gardner, Will Roberts, Anna Worrall, and everyone at The Gernert Company; to the team at Park Row Books, especially Erika Imranyi, Emer Flounders, and my editor, Natalie Hallak, whose enthusiasm for the book has rivaled my own and whose diligence continues to astound me. Additionally, I’d like to thank all the amazing booksellers and librarians I got to meet while promoting my first novel, The Bookshop of Yesterdays. Your enthusiasm for my work and for the fiction world more generally made me excited to get back to the page, so I could share this book with you. Also, to all the readers who provided me with much-needed motivation to write another novel. Your emails and letters have been an unexpected joy in the publishing process.
Every writing project teaches you some essential truth, and with this novel, I discovered the tremendous generosity of strangers. This project involved a considerable amount of research, more than I hope is obvious on the page. Thank you to Sarah Odenkirk for explaining the basics of cultural property and art law to me and for planting the seed that helped me craft Flora’s backstory. To Ann Flores for explaining diamond grading, educating me on jewelry houses, and introducing me to Elizabeth Taylor’s diamonds.
To everyone at the Gemological Institute of America who donated their time to teaching me about gemstones and your incredible institution: to Amanda Luke, who fortuitously showed up at my reading at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs and put me in touch with her colleagues at GIA; to Stephen Morisseau for hosting me on an unforgettable tour; to Nellie Barnett and Kelly Bennett for showing me around; to McKenzie Santimer for illustrating how gemstones are made; and so many others. A special thanks to Al Gilbertson for explaining the nuances of midcentury jewelry and to Cathy Jonathan for helping me explore countless designs for Helen’s brooch before landing on the perfect cattleya orchid.
Quig Bruning at Sotheby’s was also instrumental in teaching me about historic diamonds. Thanks for showing me the Magnificent Jewels Collection and pointing me toward other mysteries in the gemological world that helped me with my story about the Florentine.
Thank you to Bob Raymar for putting me in touch with Bob Wittman, whose career with the FBI’s Art Crime Team I wish I could have in another life. Bob not only shared his stories of recovering stolen art but was the first to explain the role civil forfeitures play in cultural property cases. This led me to Stef Cassella, whom I blindly emailed after reading his essay on forfeiture laws to protect cultural heritage. Stef, I still can’t believe how much time you donated to explaining the mechanics of cultural property law and civil forfeitures to a complete stranger.
Equally unbelievable was the assistance of Martin Mutschlechner, a historian at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Your vast knowledge of the Habsburgs is astonishing. Thank you for answering my often peculiar and idiosyncratic questions about Karl and Zita. You provided me with so many details on their lives that I otherwise never could have uncovered.
For other facets of research, thank you to Rebecca Rosenberger Smolen, who detailed the probate process in Pennsylvania. To Candice Gray, who shared her stories of working as a vet tech. While much of what you two taught me didn’t make it into the final draft, it gave me the necessary background to feel confident about what did. To Mara Fein, professional genealogist, who in teaching me how to conduct ancestral research helped me work backward to plant genealogical clues for the Millers to find. Thank you to Rita Durant for helping correct mistakes in my use of German and to Susan Greenbaum and Debbie Poul for helping with details about Philadelphia.
Every writer needs trusted readers, and I’m fortunate to have many. Thank you to Emily Baker, Antonio Elefano, Tatiana Uschakow, Alexandra D’Italia, Amanda Treyz, Debra Poul, Lindsay Perrotta, and Jess Cantiello for reading various drafts and providing invaluable input. A special additional thanks to Amanda Treyz for trekking through the snow in Krems an der Donau with me until I found the perfect yellow house for my book and for instilling a love of Grüner Veltliner in me.
I’m equally lucky to have such a supportive and inspiring community of friends. There are too many of you to name here, but I hope you know that your companionship means so much to me.
Before my first novel, my parents had never read any of my writing, but this time, I let them in from the earliest drafts. Thanks to my dad, Jack Meyerson, for answering all the legal questions I was too embarrassed to ask my other contacts. To my mom, Pam Meyerson, for her attention to detail in reading my final draft. To my brother, Jeff, for his encouragement and calming presence. To my adorable niece, Alice, for providing me with much-needed distractions and for posing in countless photos with my first novel. I hope there will be many more with this book. To my sister-in-law, Jen Chan, for sending said pictures when I needed a smile and for always being so encouraging of this and every project. To Linda Chan for sharing her courageous past with me. To Jessica Chan for answering my random and somewhat morbid questions about childbirth yet again with this novel. To the Perrottas for their support and for providing me with another home in Saratoga Springs.
Finally, to Adam and the little family we’re starting together. I don’t think I’ll ever fully accept your limitless belief in me, but I require it nonetheless. I can’t wait to start this next stage of our lives together. And to our son, who as I write this is still inside me. Thank you for reminding me with your painful kicks and elbows that I’d better get moving if I want to finish this book before you arrive. It’s impossible to think that right now I don’t know you, but soon you’ll be the center of our world.
ISBN: 9781488057243
The Imperfects
Copyright © 2020 by Amy Meyerson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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