The Girls from Ames (46 page)

At Gotham Books, I am indebted to Bill Shinker, who enthusiastically embraced the concept of this book, and to Lauren Marino, who truly nurtured it. After Lauren read an early draft of
The Girls from Ames
, she sent me a sixteen-page, single-spaced memo of suggestions that was an absolutely beautiful essay about friendship; my wife even cried reading it! I am also grateful to Lauren and Bill for their support when I took a break from this book in order to coauthor
The Last Lecture
.

I thank publicist Beth Parker for her diligence and hard work, her smart and creative promotional ideas and her constant good humor. I am equally grateful to Lisa Johnson, who expertly oversaw the book’s launch, and to Brianne Mulligan, who patiently and cheerfully held my hand through editing and production.

Others at Gotham and Penguin who deserve thanks for all their efforts: Philip Budnick, Dick Heffernan, John Lawton, Adenike Olanrewaju, Susan Schwartz, Melanie Koch, Ray Lundgren, Julia Gilroy, Cara Bedick, Gail Schimmel Friedman, Sabrina Bowers, Sarah Bergren, Rick Willett, Glenn Timony, Fred Huber, Tim McCall, Kent Anderson, Mark McDiarmid, Katya Shannon, Chris Mosley, Diana Van Vleck and the great team of sales reps, Harsh Patil, Melinda Hubik, Matthew Pavoni, Norman Lidofsky, Patrick Nolan, Don Redpath, Trish Weyenberg, Don Rieck, Sharon Gamboa, Richard Adamonis, Lisa Pannek, Ray Lundgren, Andy Dudley and Judy Moy.

I am supremely grateful to my agent Gary Morris for his friendship, his sense of humor about everything, and his advice and support at every step. Thanks also to Gary’s colleagues David Black, Susan Raihofer, Leigh Ann Eliseo and David Larabell.

I am grateful to Randy Pausch for all his good wishes regarding
The Girls from Ames
. He knew I had set this book aside to work on
The Last Lecture
, and he was supportive when I returned to it. Thanks to Jai Pausch, too, who read short excerpts from this book early on and was encouraging.

Thanks to photographer Teness Herman and videographer Scott MacKinnon. At
The Wall Street Journal
, thanks to Neal Boudette, Mike Radakovich, Mike Miller, Eben Shapiro, Robert Sabat, Ernie Sander, John Blanton, Kelly Timon, Krishnan Anantharaman, Glenn Ruffenach, Lee Hawkins, Kate Linebaugh, Mike Spector and John Stoll.

Of course, there aren’t enough words to thank “The Girls from West Bloomfield”—my wife, Sherry Margulis, and daughters Jordan, Alex and Eden—who showed me their great love and patience as this book came together. Likewise, I am grateful for the loving support of my parents Harry and Naomi Zaslow; in-laws George and Marilyn Margulis; and siblings Darrell and Sherri Zaslow, Lisa and David Segelman, and Randy and Debby Margulis.

Among friends who offered advice or read early drafts: Beth Kujawski, Fred Siegel, Jay Boyar, Mitch Gerber, Gayle Goodman, Hilary King and Miriam Starkman.

I want to acknowledge Pam Schur and her friends in Illinois, who first set me on this road to writing about friendship in the
Chicago Sun-Times
more than two decades ago. And I thank the hundreds of women who wrote to me in response to my
Wall Street Journal
columns about friendship. Their warm and heartfelt emails helped me realize the power of women’s friendships and led me to write this book.

As for the Ames girls themselves: I hope they all know how much I’ve come to admire them, and how extremely grateful I am that they shared themselves within these pages. At the reunion at Angela’s house, they invited me to join them in one photo taken in the tobacco field out back. I was a bit emotional standing there with them, and I will treasure that photo. It’s a picture of me with friends.

To learn more about the Ames girls,
or to share stories of your own friendships, visit
www.girlsfromames.com