The Age of Miracles

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my teachers, all of whom were essential: Aimee Bender, Nathan Englander, Mary Gordon, Sam Lipsyte, Dani Shapiro, Mona Simpson, and Mark Slouka.

I am deeply indebted to Alena Graedon, Nellie Hermann, Nathan Ihara, and Maggie Pouncey, whose friendship, insights, and willingness to read my sentences so often over the course of a decade or so has shaped me as much as my work.

Thank you to Colin Harrison, for sage advice on life and literature.

Thank you to Rivka Galchen, Tania James, Susanna Kohn, and Karen Russell, for crucial readings and suggestions.

Thank you to Eric Simonoff, for your belief, patience, and vision. Thank you to Laura Bonner and Cathryn Summerhayes, for so brilliantly representing me to the rest of the world. Also at WME, thank you to Tracy Fisher, Alicia Gordon, Britton Schey, and Kate Hutchison.

Thank you to my wonderful editor, Kate Medina at Random House, whose insights and attention to these pages moved and amazed me at every stage. Thank you to the whole Random House team, especially Gina Centrello, Susan Kamil, London King, Lindsey Schwoeri, and Anna Pitoniak.

Thank you to Suzanne Baboneau, Ian Chapman, Jessica Leeke, and the rest of the team at Simon & Schuster UK for your boundless enthusiasm.

For crucial assistance of various kinds at various times, thank you to Jonathan Karp, Alice Mayhew, Carolyn Reidy, Dan Scolnic, Michael Maren, Hannah Tinti, Antonio Sersale, and Carla Sersale. For consistently and entertainingly refining my ideas about books, thank you to Brittany Banta, Jenny Blackman, Meena Hartenstein, Paul Lucas, Finn Smith, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, and Devin McKnight.

For friendship and moral support over many years, thank you to Kate Ankofski, Shiloh Beckerley, Kelly Haas, Heather Sauceda Hannon, Sara Irwin, Samantha Martin, Carrie Loewenthal Massey, and Heather Jue Northover.

For love and enthusiasm, thank you to Liz Chu, Kiel Walker, Cheryl Walker, Steve Walker, and Chris Thompson.

Thank you most of all to my parents, Jim and Martha Thompson, for making everything possible. In particular, thank you for encouraging my interest in writing—even when it went against your better judgment.

And finally, thank you to Casey Walker, my first reader, whose intelligence, generosity, and love have improved not only these pages but also my days—in ways too profound to name. Thank you, Casey.