Flirting with Danger (24 page)

Acknowledgments
 

I
always knew I wanted to write a book. But only one person seemed to believe I actually could even before I believed it: Lori Farris. She has been a tremendous support, giving wise counsel and heavy doses of reality at every twist and turn. She has also been my memory, recalling details of my life I myself had long forgotten. Without Lori’s friendship and love, my life would have been a lot harder, and writing this book impossible.

All the people in the book are real, although, in some cases, names and identities have been changed. My memory of events is imperfect, but this is how I saw things and felt them.

I am especially grateful to my sisters, Alexandra and Francesca, for their love and memories. They are my oldest friends; they helped me survive in the family trenches. I am also immensely grateful to my mother, for the gift of life and the strength to live it.
She worked miracles bringing us up, always teaching us that nothing was beyond our reach.

Writing this book brought me closer to my father and to my uncle Leon, whom I thank for sending me all those wonderful letters. I thank my stepfather, Tim, for sharing confidences on all those airport runs. I also want to thank Beverly Kitaen-Morse for teaching me about living more fully and helping me out of the trenches, both figuratively and literally. Without Toby Eady’s belief that my life deserved a book, I might never have written it. Nancy Bacal and her Wednesday-morning writing group took me to places I never thought I could go. Leslie Linka Glatter, Ellen Basian, Stuart Sender, and Stephen Grynberg heroically waded through early drafts, giving great suggestions. Sara Faison, with her impeccable grammar and ruthless eye for dangling participles, went through the final draft.

A special thank-you to Jenny Minton, my editor, and Elizabeth Sheinkman, my agent, for their tenacity in getting this published, and to Lennie Goodings, my editor in London.

All the crews and producers I worked with at CNN are a part of this book, and I want to thank them all for being my family for so many years. And, of course, Max, who, sadly, died before publication, for being a loyal animal companion through some lonely years, and who sat at my feet through the writing of this book.

And finally a profound thank-you to Shep, for finding me from the other side of the world and for giving this book such a happy ending by marrying me even after he had read it. Not only did he not run away, he stayed around and edited and reedited the book, caring about it as if it were his own.