A number of videos were useful to me, including Christina’s World, a Hudson River Film & Video documentary narrated by Julie Harris; Bernadette, the story of a contemporary young woman named Bernadette Scarduzio afflicted with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease; a BBC film titled Michael Palin in Wyeth’s World; and a Boston Museum of Fine Arts video in which Jamie Wyeth, Andrew’s son, talks about his creative process while working on a painting titled Inferno.
My trusted friend John Veague, a gifted writer and editor, read the manuscript long before anyone else—and not once, but over and over. (I’d wake up in the morning to emails time-stamped 3 A.M. saying, “I’ve just thought of one more thing . . .”) The manuscript is stronger as a result of his rigor and thoughtfulness.
My three sisters, Cynthia Baker, Clara Baker, and Catherine Baker-Pitts, are my ideal readers; their notes on my manuscript were sharp and intelligent. I’m indebted to Michael Komanecky, Chief Curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum, for patiently answering my many questions and giving the manuscript a shrewd and incisive read. Rainey Davis, Nancy Jones, and David Rockwell fact-checked the novel; Anne Burt, Alice Elliott Dark, Louise DeSalvo, Pamela Redmond Satran, and Matthew Thomas improved it in ways large and small. Marina Budhos gave me the germ of the idea. My husband, David Kline, cheered me on and provided invaluable notes. Laurie McGee did such a brilliant job copyediting my last novel that I requested her again (and once again benefited from her thoroughness and exactitude). My wry, savvy agent, Geri Thoma, has supported me every step of the way; Simon Lipskar and Andrea Morrison at Writers House were also hugely helpful.
I’ve been working with my editor, Katherine Nintzel, for a long time. With each novel, my admiration for her grows. In her calm and gentle way, she is relentless. This book is infinitely better as a result of Kate’s skillful guidance and perceptive editing. I also want to thank my team at William Morrow/HarperCollins for their unstinting support: Michael Morrison, Liate Stehlik, Frank Albanese, Jennifer Hart, Kaitlyn Kennedy, Molly Waxman, Nyamekye Waliyaya, Stephanie Vallejo, and Margaux Weisman.
On a personal note, I am so grateful for my husband David and my sons Hayden, Will, and Eli, without whom my own small piece of the world would be barren indeed.
PHOTO SECTION
© 2016 Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE is the author of six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train. Her other novels include Bird in Hand, The Way Life Should Be, Desire Lines, and Sweet Water, as well as Orphan Train Girl, a middle-grade adaptation of Orphan Train. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Money, More, and Psychology Today, among other publications. She lives near New York City and on the coast of Maine.
www.christinabakerkline.com
/CBakerKline
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ALSO BY CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE
Orphan Train
Bird in Hand
The Way Life Should Be
Desire Lines
Sweet Water
CREDITS
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following:
THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON: VARIORUM EDITION, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965 by Mary L. Hampson.
The epigraph and quotes in the Author’s Note attributed to Andrew Wyeth are drawn from Richard Meryman’s biography of the artist, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life (Harper, 1996). Used with the permission from the Andrew Wyeth Estate.
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover art by Alan Dingman
COPYRIGHT
Credits page serves as a continuation of this copyright page.
A PIECE OF THE WORLD is a work of fiction. While some of the characters portrayed here have some counterparts in the life and times of Christina Olson, the characterizations and incidents presented are totally the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Accordingly, A PIECE OF THE WORLD should be read solely as a work of fiction, not as a biography of Christina Olson. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
A PIECE OF THE WORLD. Copyright © 2017 by Christina Baker Kline. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition February 2017 ISBN 9780062356284
ISBN 9780062356260 (hardcover)
ISBN 9780062663764 (international edition)
ISBN 9780062685940 (Books-A-Million signed edition)
ISBN 9780062675507 (Target edition)
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Christina Baker Kline, A Piece of the World
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