The People in the Trees

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My great thanks to Norman Hindley and Robert E. Hosmer for their early faith; to Fundacion Valparaiso and the New York Foundation for the Arts for their gifts of time and money; to Kaja Perina for her wit and good name; to David Ebershoff for his counsel and forbearance; to John McElwee for his humor and assistance; to Ravi Mirchandani for his charm and passion; to Jim Baker, Klara Glowczewska, and — especially — Kerry Lauerman for being delighted for me (even when I didn’t know how to be); and to Stephen Morrison for his comfort, constancy, excellent matchmaking skills, and beloved friendship.

I am so very grateful to everyone at Doubleday for their enthusiasm and care, in particular to Bill Thomas, to the smart, soothing, and hypercompetent Hannah Wood, and, most of all, to Gerry Howard for his advocacy and large-spiritedness, and for being the kind of editor who offers his engagement and intelligence with such grace and selflessness.

To the lovely and steadfast Anna Stein O’Sullivan, who believed from the start and whose opinion and advice I always treasure, my forever gratitude, respect, and affection. To Andrew Kidd, who saved me at a crucial moment and without whose brilliant editorial discernment and enduring support I would have been lost, my profound thanks.

I owe everything to Jared Hohlt, my first and favorite reader (and all-around superior human being), for his kindness, intelligence, patience, wisdom, and dear presence — but I hope he’ll settle for my inexpressible and unquantifiable love, thanks, trust, and apologies. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a friend.

And, finally, for all the qualities and generosities listed above, as well as their irreverence and taste, my deepest thanks to my parents, Ron and Susan. My father, in particular, has not only always encouraged but often abetted my every confabulation. For that, and for many other reasons besides, this book is dedicated to him.