Singer 02 - Long Time No See (47 page)

Susan at home in New York during a
New York Post
photo shoot. (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Lippman.)

Susan at the 2010 Poets & Writers bash with emcee Dave Barry. She has been chairman of the board of Poets & Writers (
www.pw.org
) for many years.

Susan’s family on her grandson Edmund’s first birthday. Edmund was born developmentally disabled and Susan’s daughter and son-in-law decided to celebrate his first birthday with a softball game/picnic/fundraiser for the 5 P Minus Society (
www.fivepminus.org
).

I sought advice and information from the people listed below. All of them gave it freely and cheerfully. I am grateful for their generosity and hope they will understand that on the occasions when their facts did not fit the needs of my fiction, I gave the facts the heave-ho: Michael Adler, Jennifer Stern Bernbaum, Paul Blackman, Kevin Caslin, Mona Castro, Gerard Catanese, Cesar Collier, Jr., Teena Deocales, Jonathan Dolger, Frank Guidice, Lawrence Iason, Robert M. Kaye, Robert W. Kenny, Erica Johanson, Edward M. Lane, Susan Lawton, Chris McCandless, Alice T. McGillion, Robert McGuire, Robert G. Morvillo, Marcia Riklis, John Royster, Cynthia Scott, Lisa Bochner Sims, Greg Suridis, William Wald, Roger Widmann, Jay Zises, and Susan Zises.

As always, I am grateful to the staff of the Port Washington (N.Y.) Public Library.

Owen Laster has represented me for more than fifteen years. He is a splendid agent and a great man.

My editor, Larry Ashmead, is a legend. He is revered for his instinct, admired for his ability, and adored for his humanity by everyone in publishing. What a guy! What a mensch!

The following people made generous contributions to charities. Their prize (I hope they will find it so) was to have a character in this novel named for them: Susan Viniar, Cecile Rabiea, Andrea Leeds, and Dana Friedman for her mother, Zelda Friedman. Beth Cope became a character because she was exuberant, goodhearted, and got me to the train on time.

Elizabeth J. Carroll’s research for this novel is a book in itself, and a well-written one at that. Liz is not only marvelously smart, she is creative, tenacious, and patient.

My assistant, Michelle E. Goldberg, is a blessing in my life. A list of laudatory adjectives to describe her would run pages, so let me briefly say that she is kind, intelligent, intuitive, cheerful, thorough, indefatigable, and diplomatic. She is also great fun.

My children and their spouses give me love, warmth, support, humor, and editorial advice. An infinity-infinity’s worth of gratitude to Leslie Stern and Andrew Abramowitz and Elizabeth and Robert Stoll. Thanks also to my grandson, Nathan Henry Abramowitz, for pure joy.

Lastly, my love and appreciation to my first reader and my one and only, Elkan Abramowitz. He is still the best person in the world.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. 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 the publisher.

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, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

copyright © 2001 by Susan Isaacs

cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

978-1-4532-1968-3

This edition published in 2011 by Open Road Integrated Media

180 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com