The Season

acknowledgments

As much as I would like to say that my characters sprang from my forehead fully formed like some kind of literary pantheon, the truth is that Alex, Ella, and Vivi would never have come to life if it hadn't been for a group of truly remarkable people. Thank goodness for acknowledgments, or I would feel very much a fraud.

First and foremost, thank you seems too little to say to my brilliant editor and wonderful friend, Lisa Sandell. Lisa, you have my unending gratitude for believing in Alex, in Gavin, and, most of all, in me. You are the greatest editor an author could ask for — the perfect combination of insight, ideas, and inspiration. Lisa came packaged with the incredible team at Scholastic, including Susan Jeffers Casel, Jody Corbett, Elizabeth Parisi, and Chris Stengel, all of whom worked tirelessly to bring these girls to life. I must give a special thanks to the unparalleled Corporate Communications team, who were so very encouraging from the earliest days of this journey.

The Season is, at its core, a story about the power of female friendship, and I have been blessed with a group of amazing women who have supported me from day one: Susan Lawler, Cynthia Noble, and Gayle Jacobson, who set my standards of friendship so very high at the beginning; Lindsay Thibeault and Beth Jarosz, who enthusiastically shared my obsession with historical fiction in the early days; all my friends from Smith College; Lynn Goldberg, who taught me everything I know about the publishing world and so much more; and, of course, my girls — Lisa, Meghan Tierney, Sarah Gelt, and Amanda Glesmann, who understood when I let all call s go to voice mail during those final months and loved me anyway. They -and countless other remarkable women — were my inspiration. I can only hope the book does them justice.

There will never be enough words to tell my family how instrumental they have been in this journey or how much I love them. Enormous thanks go to my sister, Chiara, who taught me the power the written word can have in shaping one's dreams; to my mother, Gylean, who has never wavered in her encouragement of my wild ideas; to my father, Zeno, who has always championed my eccentricities; and to Baxter, who sat quietly by my side as I wrote — my most loyal companion.

And finally, to Eric — you already have my heart, but now you have my eternal gratitude for your patience, your strength, your insight, and your love. This book would not exist without you.