To Paradise

acknowledgments

I am most grateful to Dr. Jonathan Epstein of the EcoHealth Alliance, and to the scientists at Rockefeller University who gave me valuable insights and access in early stages of my research: Drs. Jean-Laurent Casanova, Stephanie Ellis, Irina Matos, and Aaron Mertz. Profound thanks go to Dr. David Morens of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who not only brokered these introductions, but also good-naturedly gave of his time during a real-world pandemic to read about an imaginary one.

My deep gratitude to Dean Baquet, Michael “Bitter” Dykes, Jeffrey Fraenkel, Mihoko Iida, Patrick Li, Mike Lombardo, Ted Malawer, Joe Mantello, Kate Maxwell, Yossi Milo, Minju Pak, Adam Rapp, Whitney Robinson, Daniel Schreiber, Will Schwalbe, Adam Selman, Ivo van Hove, Sharr White, Ronald Yanagihara, and Susan Yanagihara, as well as Troy Chatterton, Miriam Chotiner-Gardiner, Toby Cox, Yuko Uchikawa, and everyone at Three Lives Books in New York for the extraordinary support, faith, and generosity they’ve extended to me in realms professional and personal. Thank you too to Tom Yanagihara and Ha‘alilio Solomon for their assistance with ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i. Any remaining mistakes—not to mention the decision to remap O‘ahu’s topography to suit the narrative—are mine.

I am extraordinarily lucky to have two agents, Anna Stein and Jill Gillett, who have not only never asked me to compromise, but whose patience and dedication have never dimmed. I am also extremely grateful to Sophie Baker and Karolina Sutton, who protected and fought for this book with zeal, and all my editors, publishers, and translators abroad, especially Cathrine Bakke Bolin, Alexandra Borisenko, Varya Gornostaeva, Kate Green, Stephan Kleiner, Päivi Kovisto-Alanko, Line Miller, Joanna Maciuk, Charlotte Ree, Daniel Sandström, Victor Sonkine, Susanne van Leeuwen, Maria Xilouri, Anastasia Zavozova, and the staff of Picador UK.

Gerry Howard and Ravi Mirchandani took a chance on me when no one else would; I will always be grateful to them for their advocacy, passion, and belief. I am so grateful to have Bill Thomas on my side, and for his steadfastness and calm; thank you, Bill, and everyone at Doubleday and Anchor, in particular, Lexy Bloom, Khari Dawkins, Todd Doughty, John Fontana, Andy Hughes, Zachary Lutz, Nicole Pedersen, Vimi Santokhi, and Angie Venezia, as well as Na Kim, Terry Zaroff-Evans, and, always, Leonor Mamanna.

I would not have conceived of this book, much less written it, were it not for a series of perspective-altering conversations and exchanges with Karsten Kredel, who I am privileged to count as both trusted editor and beloved friend. One of the greatest gifts of the past five years has been my friendship with Mike Meagher and Daniel Romualdez, whose hospitality, advice, and generosity have brought me immeasurable comfort and pleasure. Kerry Lauerman has been a source of humor and good counsel for more than a decade.

Finally: I am blessed to have met Daniel Roseberry, whose wisdom, empathy, wit, imagination, humility, and constancy make my life richer and more wondrous; I could not have endured the past two years without him. And nothing of who I am—as an editor, a writer, and a friend—would be possible without my first and favorite reader, Jared Hohlt, whose love and compassion have sustained me more times and in more ways than I can count. My devotion, not to mention this book, are for them.