The Nowhere Girls(108)

Angélica Wind, Executive Director of Our VOICE, for reading an early draft of this book, and for the tireless work you do serving survivors of sexual assault and abuse in Western North Carolina.

Immense gratitude to my beta and sensitivity readers: Emily Cashwell, Jennie Eagle, Kimberly Egget, Stefanie Kalem, Alison Knowles, Constance Lombardo, Natalie Ortega, Meagan Rivera, Michelle Santamaria, Kaylee Spencer, Nana Twumasi, and Victoria Vertner. Very special thanks to Stephanie Kuehnert, plot-whisperer. You all helped breathe fire into this book.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann, for her wonderful book Rogue, and for steering me in the right direction. For invaluable insight about living with autism, and writing about life with autism, thank you to wrongplanet.net; L.C. Mawson’s blog, lcmawson.com; Tania Marshall’s blog, taniaannmarshall.wordpress.com; Samantha Craft’s blogs, everydayaspergers.com and everydayaspie.wordpress.com; and disabilityinkidlit.com, especially posts by Corinne Duyvis and Elizabeth Bartmess.

My most profound and humble gratitude goes to Jen Wilde and Meredith McGhan, for the depth of their generosity in sharing their experiences with me, and for their honest (and sometimes hard to hear) feedback. You pushed me to be a better writer, and a better person. Everything I got right about Erin is due to the help of these fierce and brilliant women. Anything I got wrong is my fault alone.

Thank you to Brian, for being my home. And Elouise, for being my hope. You are my light in the darkness.

Always, more than anything, thank you to my readers and teens everywhere, who continue to inspire me with your courage and compassion. Keep resisting. Keep speaking your truth. The world needs your voices, now more than ever.