The Other Typist (32 page)

I would like to thank my agent, Emily Forland, for so many things: her intelligent feedback, her perpetual calm demeanor, and her outstanding professional social grace. Thanks also to Emma Patterson and Ann Torrago of the Wendy Weil Agency, who, together with Emily, I am confident will keep the legacy of the amazing Wendy Weil going strong. Wendy will be missed. My deepest gratitude to Amy Einhorn for her expert editorial guidance, deft insights, and refreshingly straight-shooting approach. I am still extremely thrilled to be working with someone I so admire! Thanks also to Liz Stein, who is one smart cookie and a hardworking wonder. I am also very appreciative of the editorial contributions made by Juliet Annan; the sharp insights she added were invaluable as I honed the manuscript. Thanks, too, to Sophie Missing. I would like to thank Emma Sweeney for giving me my first job in publishing, and for paving the road that led to this manuscript finding a home. A tremendous thank-you to Jayme Yeo, my dearest friend for over a decade now, who patiently read and reread many early versions despite having a doctoral dissertation of her own to finish. I am deeply indebted to Eva Talmadge for many things: her carefully considered insights, her constant professional encouragement, and her friendship over the last two years. Thanks also to Julie Fogh, a one-woman support network extraordinaire! Thank you to Rice University and all my colleagues there. Thank you to Susan Wood: poet, mentor, and dear friend. Thanks to Colleen Lamos for directing my graduate school interests in modernism and to Joe Campana for setting an admirable example of how to accomplish good work as both an artist and an academic. I am grateful to my publishing girl-group for their fellowship and support: Hana Landes, Julia Masnik, and Laura Van der Veer (“Reading Rainbows,” unite!). I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the following people who read early versions of the manuscript and gave helpful comments: Brendan Jones, Mark Lawley, Melissa Rindell, Susan Shin, Ning Zhou, and Olga Zilberbourg. I am grateful to the Weldon family, who rented me an affordable apartment in East Harlem during the time I wrote this book. Thanks also to my New York roommates, who were supportive of this endeavor: Clare Brower and Matt Bessette. A big fat thank-you to Brian Shin, who has provided unconditional love and support throughout the years; I don’t know what I ever did to deserve a best friend like you, but whatever it was, I’m sure glad as hell I did it. On a similar note, I am extremely grateful for my family: Sharon, Arthur, Laurie, and Melissa.

Lastly, I should mention there are one or two moments in this book wherein I humbly aspired—in my own small way—to pay deliberate homage to the first true love of my teenage years: Fitzgerald’s
The Great Gatsby
. My admiration abides.

SUZANNE RINDELL
is a doctoral student in American modernist literature at Rice University.
The Other Typist
is her first novel. She lives in New York City and is currently working on a second novel.