Five Minutes in Heaven (44 page)

An eight-year-old Alther in June of 1952.

Alther, at age eleven, with her parents, Alice and Shelton Reed, and brothers Michael, Bill, and John, in June of 1955. This photo was taken at Alther's aunt's cottage at Conesus Lake in upstate New York.

Alther's high school graduation photo. She attended Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport, Tennessee, where she played clarinet in the band, was the editor of the school newspaper, and belonged to several community service and social clubs.

Alther at her farmhouse in Vermont in 1976 on the day of the publication of her first novel,
Kinflicks
.

Seen here in 1992, Alther is posing in front of watercolors she painted and displayed at a group show in New York.

Alther with her grandsons Zachary, eight, and Oliver, three, in New York's Central Park in December of 2009.

Alther with her mother, Alice, in Lake Champlain, Vermont, in 2000.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are 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.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint from previously published material:

Frank Music Corporation: Excerpt from “Unchained Melody,” lyrics by Hy Zaret, music by Alex North. © 1955 (renewed) Frank Music Corp. All rights reserved.

Gold Hill Music, Inc.: Excerpt from “Love the One You're With” by Stephen Stills. © 1970 Gold Hill Music, Inc. (ASCAP). All rights administered by this music corporation for the world. All rights reserved internationally. © secured. Used by permission.

Irving Music, Inc.: Excerpt from “Somebody to Love” by Darby Slick. © 1969 Irving Music, Inc. (BMI). All rights reserved internationally. © secured. Used by permission.

Satsuma Music and Becky Hobbs Music: Excerpt from “You Wanna Be Loved” by Lewis Anderson and Becky Hobbs. © 1976 Satsuma Music and Becky Hobbs Music. All rights reserved.

Webster Music Co.: Excerpt from “Twelfth of Never” by Paul F. Webster. © Webster Music Co. All rights reserved.

copyright © 1995 by Lisa Alther

cover design by ORIM

ISBN: 978-1-4532-0582-2

This edition published in 2010 by Open Road Integrated Media
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New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com