Rivers

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my good friends Andrew Kelly and Steven Woods for their feedback and encouragement through the early stages of this manuscript. Thanks to Kendall Dunkelberg and Bridget Smith Pieschel for supporting me in the neighborhood. The Mississippi Arts Commission and Alabama Arts Council have been instrumental in supporting my artistic endeavors and I am very grateful to both organizations. Thanks to Nicki Kennedy, Sam Edenborough, and everyone at the Intercontinental Literary Agency for their enthusiasm, and to Stefanie Broesigke at Heyne Publishing for getting on board so early. I’d like to say thank you to Matthew Snyder at Creative Artists Agency for his vision and hard work. Thanks to Edward Graham of the Steinberg Agency, whose sharp eye was instrumental in the revision stages. Peter Steinberg, my literary agent, possesses creative vision and the ability to inspire, among many other immeasurable qualities. Thanks, Peter. I want to thank Sarah Knight, my editor at Simon & Schuster, who helped drive this manuscript to its highest level, and then held it up proudly for all to see. Thanks also to Molly Lindley, Michael Accordino, and the team at Simon & Schuster. To my blue-eyed Mississippi girls, thank you for every day. And, finally, my gracious thank you to Sabrea, who has come to my rescue more times than I can count.