Thanks for your friendship and for your many kindnesses. My dear friend Edna, you’ve shared your wisdom and your love of literature with me since I was nineteen — I send hugs of love and gratitude from here to Australia for you! My neighbors Jennifer and Heather, I appreciate not only your helpful feedback on my writing but your genuineness and humor. Josh and all our friends from the Y, thanks so much for answering my endless questions. Dorothy Enloe and Raymond Schoen — my writing mentors when I was young and impressionable — you may no longer be with us, but your messages from decades ago are still with me.

Hugs, kisses and colossal thanks to my wonderful family: Mom, for your unwavering encouragement; Dad, for those amazing cliffhanger story endings; Bro, for being the coolest brother imaginable and for helping me build the sound track to every book; Brad, Beth and Dave, for your excitement and interest; my grandparents and extended family for cheering me on (with extra-special thanks to Michelle and Stephanie for your enthusiastic emails); and Joanne, for being as caring as a relative. The love you’ve all given me through the years is such a gift. The downside? I’ve been forced to look elsewhere to find prototypes for my most antagonistic characters. (And I can’t thank you enough for that!)

Finally, my extraordinarily supportive, loving and generous husband and son — you two made it possible for me to pursue this dream, and you’re why I always say “Yes!” when people ask if I’m an optimist. I love you both — even more than ice cream, music, sunshine…. Thank you.

Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then.

  — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

PROLOGUE

In a country neighbourhood you move in a

very confined and unvarying society.