The Ghost Apple (33 page)

I am very grateful to everyone who read early drafts of this book or provided assistance of some other kind. Many thanks to David Leavitt, Michael Hofmann, Ed White, Audrey Thier, Peter Murphy, Rob White, and David Weimer. Thanks also to my agent, Cynthia Cannell, and my editor, Rachel Mannheimer, and thanks to everyone at MFA@FLA.

I’d be living in a cardboard box with a squeeze bottle of malt liquor if it were not for my wife, Sarah Trudgeon, who also read many many drafts and provided invaluable editorial advice. Thanks are not enough, never enough. I can offer only my love.

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

Aaron Thier
was born in Baltimore and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He and his wife have just returned from Florida, where they lived in Gainesville and Miami, and they are now hiding in western Massachusetts once again. His essays have appeared in the
Nation
, the
New Republic
, and the
Buenos Aires Review
. He is currently at work on his second novel.

Copyright © 2014 by Aaron Thier

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in

any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

For information address Bloomsbury USA, 1385 Broadway,

New York, NY 10018.

Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York

Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data

Thier, Aaron.

The ghost apple : a novel / Aaron Thier.—First U.S. Edition.

pages cm

eISBN 978-1-62040-529-1

1. College students—Fiction. 2. Snack food industry—

Fiction. 3. New England—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3620.H546G46 2014

813´.6—dc23

2013036240

First U.S. edition 2014

Electronic edition published in March 2014

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