Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel (35 page)

Thank you to Penny Feuerzeig, Beulah Harrigan, Gretchen Heyer, Keith Jardin, Amanda Nowlin, Monica Parle, and Gemini Wahaj, who read the earliest drafts. Thank you to Cassandra Francis for the resources. Thanks to Jericho Brown, Kathy Cambor, Amber Dermont, Nina McConigley, Keya Mitra, Emily Pérez, and Giuseppe Taurino, who always challenged and supported this project. Thanks to Hosam Abu-Ela, Vincent Cooper, Claudia Rankine, and Lois Zamora, who asked all the hard questions that led me to the harder questions. Thanks to Chitra Divakaruni, my thesis chair, who has supported me in all the ways a writing mentor can. Thank you to Patrick Freeman, Laura Jo Hess, Paige Cohen, Andrès Cruciani, and Gilmarie Brioso, whose time gave me time. Thank you to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (most especially Michael, Jen, and Noreen) and The New School (especially Helen Schulman, Robert Polito, David Scobey, Luis Jaramillo, and my amazing students) for being supportive and inspiring communities. Thank you to the Enid M. Baa Public Library of St. Thomas, the Anegada Community Library, and the French Heritage Museum of Frenchtown, St. Thomas, where I did research. Thank you to Elise Capron and Sandra Dijkstra, who are always encouraging and fierce. Thanks to Sarah McGrath and Sarah Stein, who said yes to what needed
yes, and no to what really, really didn’t. Thank you, Riverhead! You’ve been my dream! I am in awe of the copy editor, David Hough, who patiently worked with me through all the complexities of language this book explores. Thanks to Eddie Bryan, Norma Bryan, Judy Bryan, and Judy Petersen Rabsatt for the conversations. Thank you to the late Dr. Andre Galiber, Sr., for vignettes of his youth. Thank you to my mother and my aunts, who read the manuscript and then decided to love me despite, or support me because. Thank you to my brother and my son—my solstice boys who have been patient. My heart’s gratitude to Moses Djeli, who is my partner in all things.

My life, much less this book, would not have been possible without my grandmother Beulah Smith Harrigan.