The Bookseller (40 page)

I open the car door, blow warm air into my hands, and rub my cheeks. And then I walk up the sidewalk to the school, pausing a few feet from the doorway. I am waiting to embrace my children.

M
y thanks to Claire Wachtel, my amazing editor at Harper, for her sharp insight, enthusiasm, and great stories. Hannah Wood deftly and gracefully kept the process on track. Miranda Ottewell's keen eye caught the smallest details and made the manuscript all the better for it. Susanna Einstein is an incredible agent who loved this book from the first time she read it. For her professionalism and friendship, I am grateful. To the staff at Einstein Thompson Agency, thank you for your passion and dedication.

To Shana Kelly, who pointed me in the right direction, and in the process became not only a mentor but also a friend, I offer thanks. To everyone at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, thank you for providing inspiration, thought-provoking workshops and conferences, and an outstanding writers' community. Gary Schanbacher and Rose Fredrick contributed literary discourse, coffee, and handouts. Susan Wright, Mary Elliott, and Jocelyn Scheirer read early drafts and gave me both suggestions and cheerleading; I am fortunate to call them sister and virtual sisters. I am blessed to have Mary Hauser and Sandra Theunick in my life; to both of them, I am grateful. To my “friends who live in my computer”—thank you and M4L. The Book Club That Changed the World has done more than that—its members have
changed my life, always for the better and always with my gratitude.

The staff of the Western History Department at the Denver Public Library provided maps, old newspapers and phone books, and friendly assistance. Phil Goodstein's volumes on the history of South Denver supplied considerable background and historical data. Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover Bookstore, and Sonya Ellingboe, former owner of the Book House, provided marvelous details about working in and owning a small bookshop in the 1960s. Many clinical volumes about autism offered context on the condition, but Michael Blastland's heartfelt memoir
The Only Boy in the World: A Father Explores the Mysteries of Autism
helped me truly appreciate the challenges faced by parents of an autistic child. The First Universalist Church of Denver Women's Book Club shared their memories to help me visualize life as a young woman in the early 1960s; to them, I am grateful.

A note on historical accuracy: although many newspapers in the 1950s published “lonely hearts” advertisements in their classifieds sections, the
Denver Post
was not one of them. I hope readers will grant me poetic license in creating a fictional personals section in the 1954
Denver Post
.

This book would not have come to fruition if not for the encouragement and devotion of four remarkable people. Thank you, Charlie, Dennis, and Jane, for being my inspiration and the loves of my life. And to Sammy, for absolutely everything; I am so, so glad we met.

CYNTHIA SWANSON
is a writer and a designer of the midcentury modern style. She has published short fiction in
13th Moon
,
Kalliope
,
Sojourner
, and other periodicals; her story in
13th Moon
was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children.
The Bookseller
is her first novel.

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COVER DESIGN BY JARROD TAYLOR

COVER PHOTOGRAPHS: © LYN RANDLE / GETTY IMAGES (BOOK); © IAN NIXON / GETTY IMAGES (PAPER)

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE BOOKSELLER
. Copyright © 2015 by Cynthia Swanson. 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, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

“Leavin' on Your Mind.”

Words and Music by Wayne P. Walker and Webb Pierce.

Copyright © 1962 Universal–Cedarwood Publishing.

Copyright Renewed.

All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

ISBN: 978-0-06-233300-1 (Hardcover)

EPub Edition March 2015 ISBN 9780062333025

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