I thank Sarah’s childhood friend for coming to me, for telling me about the abuse. I know how much courage that took, and I am forever grateful.
I thank Christianne Hayward and the teens and mothers at Christianne’s Lyceum for reading my manuscript and sharing your feedback. It was enormously helpful. Thank you also, Roberta.
I thank everyone who worked on the manuscript. Hadley Dyer, my editor at HarperCollins: you were thorough, thoughtful, kind and patient—everything a person hopes for in an editor and much that a person doesn’t dare dream of. Freelance editors Catharine Chen and Sophie Tupholme: you read the manuscript at a critical time and helped me to feel that I was on the right track. Allyson Latta, my copyeditor: I so appreciate your attention to detail and your personal touch. Production editor Maria Golikova, thank you for shepherding Beth and Kaya’s story so graciously. And Kelly Jones, proofreader, thank you for taking such care with that crucial last step.
I thank writing buddies Rachel Rose and Lori Shenher, and my friend Kerry Porth: your kind words helped me carry on and your suggestions made the book better. And I thank Raven for enthusiastically allowing me to use her name in this story.
I gratefully acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts for the grant that assissted in the writing of this book.
And I thank my husband, Roland, the first to read all my stories.