The Admissions (37 page)

Eternal thanks go to my wonderful agent and tireless supporter, Elisabeth Weed, and to her assistant, Dana Murphy, as well as Jenny Meyer for handling foreign rights. A bucketful of gratitude is due to my brilliant editor, Melissa Danaczko, and the eagle-eyed Margo Shickmanter, and to everyone at Doubleday for welcoming me into the fold so warmly. Jo-Ellen Truelove O’Dell, the very best high school English teacher out there, shared myriad and juicy details about rigorous high school classes and steered me right when I went wrong. Shiloh Hagen did the same regarding the high-end real estate market in Northern California. Liana McCabe answered my medical questions. Blair Nelson talked to me about the consulting world. Todd Jacobsen deserves belated thanks for what has become years of website help. The community of Danville, California, welcomed my family and me during the year we lived there. I don’t know what I’d do without my tiny writers’ club, of which fellow author Katie Schickel is the only other member. Newburyport ladies: you know who you are. Margaret Dunn provided a sounding board when I desperately needed one and along with Jennifer Truelove and my sister put oodles of cross-country miles on the minivan and spent many a night with me in shady, dog-friendly motels. My parents, John and Sara Mitchell; my sister, Shannon Mitchell; and my in-laws in the Moore and Destrampe families always provide love, support, and child care where necessary.

Addie, Violet, and Josie, I thank you for growing up in front of my very eyes with intelligence, grace, and humor. You teach me as much as I teach you. And to Brian, for too many things to name—for everything, really—but especially for bringing us back home.

Meg Mitchell Moore is the author of the novels
The Arrivals
and
So Far Away.
She worked for several years as a journalist for a variety of publications. She lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband and three daughters.