Like Mandarin - Kirsten Hubbard [92]
But we can’t wait for them to chase us down—we’ve got to seek them out. Because for two people to meet in the middle, both have to take that first step.
First and most, this book is for and because of my mother, Marcia, Californian and Wyomingite, who helped me find Grace (as well as armloads of rocks) in the Wyoming badlands.
I’d like to thank my twin sister, Danielle: muse, inexorable critic, and womb/soul mate. Michelle Haft, best friend and constant inspiration. The rest of my family, Hubbards and Allens and Cummingses, and my friends, who love me even when I’m being a writing recluse who doesn’t return calls for a month.
My brilliant agent, Michelle Andelman, who wanted more of “edgy, longing, magnetic” Mandarin half an hour after I crept into her slush pile.
My team at Delacorte Press, especially my editors, Michelle Poploff and Rebecca Short, expert story shapers who helped perfect my novel beyond its wildwindiest dreams.
For support, honest critiques, and hysterical laugher, my alces alces superwomen: Amanda Hannah, Kristin Miller, Kaitlin Ward, and Michelle Schusterman. Also, Hannah Wydey, Kristin Otts, Kody Keplinger, and the rest of the YA Highway girls.
My UCSD writing mentors Michael Krekorian, Brian Root, Eileen Myles, and Harriet Dodge, one of Mandarin’s earliest advocates.
Annie Proulx, for reawakening the landscapes of my own young adulthood and beckoning me back.
And last but never least, Bryson, love of my life, who doesn’t understand all this insanity but supports me anyway.
A travel writer and young adult author, Kirsten Hubbard has hiked ancient ruins in Cambodia, dived with wild dolphins in Belize (one totally looked her in the eye), slept in a Slovenian jail cell, and navigated the Wyoming badlands (without a compass) in search of transcendent backdrops for her novels. She lives in San Diego. Visit her website at kirstenhubbard.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Before
Chapter 1 - Only Weep When You Win
Chapter 2 - Like Mandarin
Chapter 3 - Small Towns Don’t Forget
Chapter 4 - Her Almost Smile
Chapter 5 - Two of a Kind
Chapter 6 - Let Go
Chapter 7 - A Little Piece of Ocean
Chapter 8 - That Girl My Mother Had Been
Chapter 9 - Will You Go?
Chapter 10 - Confectionary Kingdoms
Chapter 11 - All the Way Out to the Sea
Chapter 12 - We’re All a Little Bit Crazy
Chapter 13 - The Fundamentals of Leadership
Chapter 14 - Nobody Else in the World
Chapter 15 - Whoops
Chapter 16 - Weirdos on These Premises
Chapter 17 - Liberation
Chapter 18 - Like Fairy Glamour
Chapter 19 - Stones in My Pocket
Chapter 20 - The Biggest Event of the Year
Chapter 21 - Empty Space
Chapter 22 - A Two-Way Mirror
Chapter 23 - With You I Will Leave
Chapter 24 - The Quarry
Chapter 25 - Dark Places
Chapter 26 - How Good My Life Could Be
Chapter 27 - Way Back When
Chapter 28 - Someplace Magic
Chapter 29 - A Shock in the Silence
Chapter 30 - Personal Kaleidoscopes
After
Acknowledgments
About the Author