City of Promise (64 page)

Authors: Beverly Swerling

Tags: #Historical

A
LL BOOKS STAND
on the shoulders of other books—in no instance is that more true than in the matter of historical fiction. This one, like the others in the series, owes an enormous debt to the writers and editors who over two centuries created the books that chronicle New York City and now fill two entire shelves in my office. They are too many to mention, but my gratitude to them is boundless. With regard to the quintessential New York quest, still a source of angst and ecstasy—finding a place to live—I relied on Charles Lockwood’s
Manhattan Moves Uptown
(Houghton Mifflin, 1976), and
New York, New York: How the Apartment House Transformed the Life of the City
, by Elizabeth Hawes (Knopf, 1993).

The great Sydny Miner, editor extraordinaire, midwifed this book into existence as she had the others, but moved on before I finished it. Her impossibly large shoes were filled by a trio I have come to think of as my “rose-lipt maidens”: Michelle Rorke, Kate Ankofski, and most particularly Michele Bové, who was tireless in shepherding the manuscript through the quirks and quandaries of the production process. The final story owes much to the youthful energy and assorted points
of view of all three. Mollie especially benefited from their attentions. They have my thanks.

As to making possible the book you actually hold in your hands—in whatever format—it would be considerably less than it is were it not for Loretta Denner, a senior production editor at Simon & Schuster. In terms of knowing what to ask, whom to ask, and how to get it done, she is, quite simply, in a class of her own. Thank you. Henry Morrison brought his customary quite special skill to the origins of the project, and Marly Rusoff graciously—and effectively—became its supporter and chief cheerleader. I could not have done without either.

And finally, as always, I thank my husband, the wind beneath my wings.

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