Acknowledgments

An incredible number of people have encouraged and supported me during the creation of this book; I would rather it be remaindered immediately upon publication than to neglect to thank a single one of them. In other words, this is going to be long.

First and foremost, my love and profound thanks to my wife, Alex. Without her help at every stage, this book would never have happened. Few pages haven’t been improved by her in some way.

Love and thanks to my mother, Eileen O’Donnell, for her generous and unwavering support (not just during the writing of this book but always) and my brother, Kevin O’Donnell. Thanks also to Armando Villasante, Gladys Villasante, and Anamari and Mladen Bulatovic.

Massive thanks to Helen Walters for moral support, sage advice, and generosity with her in-short-supply time.

I was fortunate to find a home at Rockport Publishers, where this book was lovingly and patiently (with a capital P) coaxed into being by my editor, Emily Potts; art directors David Martinell and Regina Grenier; Betsy Gammons, Madeline Perri, and publisher Winnie Prentiss. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and guidance throughout the process.

For invaluable input, advice, and friendship, my thanks to Bob and Colleen Shea, Roy Burns, Joyce and Mike Knievel, Maribel and Marcelo DeLeon, Michael Green, Katie Estes, Sarah Skapik, Carolyn Defrin, Will Thomas, Chris Hacker, Vaughan Oliver, Martin Andersen, and the patron saint of this book, Chris Bigg.

Thanks to all my colleagues at Johnson & Johnson for the interest they’ve shown, especially Stephen Bramwell, Elysha Huntington, Elizabeth Cory Holzman, Jeff Silva, Araba Simpson, Karin Taylor, Ravi Hampole, Taylor Leishman, Aimee Sealfon, Dustin Wagner, Cherith Victorino, Svenja Leggewie and Richie Tanaka.

For advice, assistance, or both, thanks to Kai Salmela, Cassie Brinen, Jen Simon, Deborah Adler, Gillian Gould, Yuka Hiyoshi, Susan Ledgerwood, Michelle Quint, Eli Horowitz, Barry A. Smith, Lee Iley, Sharon Chai, Bryan Bedell, Lucy Feagins, Jennifer Hsu, Jelena Mihelčić, Bradley Cho-Smith, Sherry Etheredge, Carol LeFlufy, Karin Mihatsch, Jee-eun Lee, Lynne and Richard Bryant, Zoe Antoniou, Stephen M. Kosslyn, Clifford Stoltze, Sylvie Agudelo, Rick Poynor, and Mark Sinclair.

Last but not least, thank you, Rowan, for being patient—yes, I can finally play ballerina/mermaid/princess with you now—and a loving welcome to Lyra Wren.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Timothy George O’Donnell.