Wild, Beautiful, and Free(99)
Acknowledgments
I offer my heartfelt thanks to:
My friend Jane Wolfe for bringing me to New Orleans for the literacy program she created, Eat and Read at Melba’s, and giving me the opportunity to continue exploring my fascination and love for Louisiana.
My friend and fellow Harvard graduate Peter Krause, who, because he loves his home so well, first piqued my interest in New Orleans.
My editor, Danielle Marshall, for caring deeply about Jeannette Bébinn’s story.
The team at Lake Union Publishing, including Jen Bentham, Riam Griswold, Elyse Lyon, and Lesley Worrell, who worked hard and so well to produce a beautiful book.
My agent, Brettne Bloom, for believing in my writing.
Dawn Daniels, proprietor of Ballyhoo Books in Alma, Michigan, who read the novel’s first draft.
My colleagues at the Alma College master of fine arts (MFA) in creative writing.
My family, Lynne Westfield, David Hicks, Jenny Lumet, Peter Wright, Robert Vivian, Mathieu Cailler, Donald Quist, Michelle Webster-Hein, Kali Van Baale White, Sarah Arthur, and Janet Simmonds, for their love and creative support and inspiration.
District New Haven, a beautiful shared work space that provided shelter and community when COVID made the university library where I once wrote unavailable to me. Most of this book was written and revised in an office there.
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