The Beginning of After (27 page)

Authors: Jennifer Castle

BOOK: The Beginning of After

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I’
VE RECEIVED SO MUCH
from so many people on this long, strange, marvelous trip.

My agent, the supersmart, generally spectacular Jamie Weiss Chilton, gifted me with her special brand of insight and passion. I thank higher powers every day that she fell in love with this book, and believe me, it loves her right back. My wonderful editor, Rosemary Brosnan, pushed me in her gracious yet fierce and brilliant way to make Laurel’s story better and better. Rosemary and the talented team at HarperCollins Children’s Books have made the whole publishing-a-first-novel thing a truly joyous and educational process.

My experience at the Big Sur Writing Workshop was instrumental in shaping the manuscript at an early stage, slapping me gently upside the brain and sending me back down the Pacific Coast Highway with fresh focus. I’m grateful to Susan Merson and the members of the Los Angeles Writers Bloc, as well as the literary ladies of the Write On, Mama critique group, for their intelligent reading and comments. My dear friends Cindy Frigard, Kim Purcell, and Robyn Castellani were also early readers and key feedback-givers. Josephine Schiff and Elizabeth C. contributed their expertise on school counseling and grief therapy, respectively. And I have to say thank you to Peggy Sweeney, for all of her Meg-ness.

I’m lucky to have the family I do—the Castles, Locascios, Springs, and Minardis—who gave me so much enthusiasm, support, and childcare even though they had no idea what my book was about or whether it was any good. My parents, Jay and Sue, have always provided a constant, unquestioning faith that’s helped me be a writer in one way or another my entire life.

And finally, thank you to Bill, for sharing his creative and generous spirit with me every day, and to Sadie and Clea . . . my two favorite Afters.

About the Author

JENNIFER CASTLE
graduated from Brown University and worked as a celebrity publicist’s assistant, an advertising copywriter, and a struggling screenwriter (yes, that’s an actual job) before falling into a niche producing websites for kids and teens. the beginning of after is her first novel. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in New York’s Hudson Valley, and hopes you’ll pay her a visit online at www.jennifercastle.com.

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Credits

Jacket photo © 2011 by Monika Stojak

Jacket design by Erin Fitzsimmons

HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

The Beginning of After

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-198579-9

11 12 13 14 5 CG/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780062093202

First Edition

About the Publisher

Australia

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Canada