Red, White & Royal Blue (49 page)
Read Red, White & Royal Blue Online
Authors: Casey McQuiston
I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of so many. To my angel of an agent, Sara Megibow, thank you for driving
this crazy bus. I went into this whole experience hoping to find one person who felt even half of what I feel for this book, and you matched me from the first moment we spoke. Thank you for being the champion this book needed and the reassurance always at my back. To Vicki Lame, my editor, the Texas girl who fought for this book and always saw in it what it could mean to people. Thank you for giving this your all, for forever being the person in the corner of the ring with the water bottle. You and the team at St. Martin’s Griffin have literally made dreams come true. Thank you to my publicity team, DJ DeSmyter and Meghan Harrington, and to everyone else who threw themselves behind this book.
More thanks: Elizabeth Freeburg, who taught me more than I can ever give back to her, without whom I’d be half the writer I am today. Lena Barsky, who doula’d this entire novel, who was the first to love these characters as much as I do. Sasha Smith, my literary sherpa who believed in me most, without whom I would have been drowning before I was even out of the slip. Shanicka Anderson, the beta reader of my dreams, who loved this book even when it was 40,000 words too long. Lauren Heffker, the person who sat with me in a Taco Bell while I untangled this plot, who never didn’t want to hear what I was thinking. Season Vining, who poured my wine and told me that my dream wasn’t so unattainable. Leah Romero, my number-one fan and political inspiration, the reader I was always writing to impress. Tiffany Martinez, who read this book with care and love and gave it to me straight. Laura Marquez, who helped with translations. CJSR, who knows it all, whose sleepless nights this book happened in spite of. My FoCo fam, my new home.
To my family, who have done more for me over the years
than any person deserves: You had no idea what you were signing on for when I told you I wrote a book, but y’all still cheered me on. Thank you for loving me as I am. Thank you for letting me be your weirdo baby. To Dad, my original storyteller: I know you always knew I had this in me. Thank you for helping me believe it. Big as the universe, over the clouds, forever. This is my best work to date.
To the sources that helped me with the mountains of research I did for this: WhiteHouseMuseum.org, the Royal Collection Online,
My Dear Boy
by Rictor Norton, the V&A’s extremely helpful website, countless others. To the country of Norway, literally, for the week that broke me out of the slump and made 110,000 words of the first draft happen. To “Texas Reznikoff” by Mitski.
To every person in search of somewhere to belong who happened to pick up this book, I hope you found a place in here, even if just for a few pages. You are loved. I wrote this for you.
Keep fighting, keep making history, keep looking after one another.
Affectionately yrs. Have a Shiner on me.
CASEY M
C
QUISTON
grew up in the swamps of Southern Louisiana, where she cultivated an abiding love for honey butter biscuits and stories with big, beating hearts. She studied journalism and worked in magazine publishing for years before returning to her first love: joyous, offbeat romantic comedies and escapist fiction. She now lives in the mountains of Fort Collins, Colorado, with a collection of caftans and her poodle mix, Pepper. You can sign up for email updates
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE.
Copyright © 2019 by Casey McQuiston. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Kerri Resnick
Cover illustration by Colleen Reinhart
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: McQuiston, Casey, author.
Title: Red, white & royal blue: a novel / Casey McQuiston.
Other titles: Red, white and royal blue
Description: First edition. | New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018055526 | ISBN 9781250316776 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 9781250316783 (ebook)
Classification: LCC PS3613.C587545 R43 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018055526
eISBN 9781250316783
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First Edition: May 2019
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