Songs Without Words (35 page)

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Jordan Pavlin, my wonderful editor, and everyone else at Knopf and Vintage for their kindness and hard work.

I’m very grateful to Drs. Charlie Goldberg, Nancy Marks, Luke Moix, Lynn Ponton, Steve Sturges, and Patti Yanklowitz for providing medical information and guidance. For offering expertise on a variety of other technical matters, my appreciation goes to Ben Goldstone, David Ewing Duncan, Chris Hunt, Ken Kornberg, Jan Seerveld, and Andy Wolff.

Thank you for reading and commenting on early versions of this book: Jane Aaron, Hallie Aaron, Jamie Eder, Ruth Goldstone, Alice LaPlante, Cornelia Nixon, Katharine Noel, Sydnie Nugent-Pierce, Ron Nyren, George Packer, Rachel Pastan, Tony Pierce, and Vendela Vida. For multiple readings and conversations, an extra helping of gratitude goes to Sylvia Brownrigg, Ann Cummins, Ryan Harty, Nancy Johnson, Veronica Kornberg, Lisa Michaels, Julie Orringer, and Sarah Stone.

Finally, I would like to thank and honor my agent, Geri Thoma, for her embodiment of the word “grace.”

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ann Packer received a Great Lakes Book Award and the Kate Chopin Literary Award for
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier,
a national best seller that has been translated into ten languages. Also the author of
Mendocino and Other Stories,
she lives in northern California with her family.

ALSO BY ANN PACKER

The Dive from Clausen’s Pier

Mendocino and Other Stories

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2007 by Ann Packer

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Packer, Ann, [date]

Songs without words / by Ann Packer.—1st ed.

p.                           cm.

1. Female friendship—Fiction.                  2. Self-perception—Fiction.                  I. Title.

PS
3566.
A
315
S
67 2007

813'.54—dc22                                                               2006100512

This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

eISBN: 978-0-307-26781-8

v3.0