A Guardian and a Thief By Megha Majumdar - 14

Enormous gratitude to:

Eric Simonoff and Jordan Pavlin, two brilliant minds and extraordinary literary souls it is my great luck to know and turn to. Their magic is elemental to this book.

Erinn Hartman, Emily Reardon, and Abby Endler, for their immensely skillful and thoughtful championing.

John Ingold, Grace Blaxill, and Criss Moon, for guiding my work forward with exceptional care.

Tyler Comrie, for his art.

Anne Achenbaum and Madison Parrotta for lending the book their production expertise. Ellen Feldman and Annette Szlachta-McGinn for their copyediting expertise. Betty Lew for her design expertise.

Gabrielle Brooks, for her magnificent advocacy.

Each person behind the scenes at WME and Knopf who touched this book and gave it their time, thought, and energy.

Professor Meha Jain, for graciously responding to my email.

The Whiting Foundation, the anonymous judges who chose to give me a grant, and Courtney Hodell, whose encouragement has meant the world.

Civitella Ranieri, especially Heather Ewing, Diego Mencaroni, Michaela Olson, and the anonymous person who thought of me for that beautiful residency.

The Betsy Hotel Writer’s Room, and Mitchell Kaplan for telling me about it and encouraging me to apply.

The Hawthornden Brooklyn residency, especially Ellyn Toscano and Lauren Goldenberg, who made it a place and time of exquisite calm and concentration.

Oliver Preston and Christine Brittain, as well as Alex Primiani and Mike Antonio, for their warm generosity and much-needed writing refuge.

Andy Hunter, Pat Strachan, and Jonathan Lee, for believing in me, giving me opportunities to work, and supporting me in building a life in this country.

Amity Gaige, Janice Nimura, Marisa Silver, and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, for being advocates and friends through the years of writing, and for beautiful early reads. Janice, along with Giovanni Palacardo and Raffaella Palacardo, for stepping forward and helping me in an uncertain time.

Caroline Bleeke, whose steadfast friendship has been one of the great gifts of my life.

Laura Preston, for astute early reads, and beyond that, for an unwavering friendship that has been an anchor.

My parents, Sucharita and Partha Majumdar, and my sister, Roshni Majumdar, for wholeheartedly supporting my reading and writing enthusiasms, from childhood to this age.

The Labik family, for warm support over the years.

Michal Labik, for his love, his storytelling genius, which helped shape the book, and the purity of his faith in me.

And, our beloved Leo, who made me the writer I needed to be to write this book.