This book had a longer journey than most, beginning its life as a solo project of Justine’s in 2017. Many folks were cheerleaders and gave insightful comments on that first draft, starting with Scott, of course, and our wonderful agent, Jill Grinberg, but also Kathrynn Barker, Preeti Chhibber, Dhonielle Clayton, Sarah Park Dahlen, Erin Gough, Sydette Harry, Mallory Kass, Mikki Kendall, Tiffany D. Jackson, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Melina Marchetta, Maya Marlette, Mark Oshiro, Emily X. R. Pan, Aisha Saeed, Ron Serdiuk, Adam Silvera, Lili Wilkinson, Sean Williams, and Doselle Young. Despite their many excellent suggestions, Justine couldn’t get the rewrites to work, and abandoned the manuscript in 2019.

In 2023, as a joke, she suggested Scott rewrite it. He laughed, then tried a page-one rewrite of the opening chapter. Justine was afraid to read it. What if he’d messed up her baby?! He had not; he’d improved it. Justine rewrote his rewrite and fixed his misunderstandings of the Morton universe. Scott was delighted that she had further improved the chapter. Thus they rewrote the manuscript together, deleting excessive similes and lists, killing each other’s darlings, upping the ante, and having more fun than should be legal.

Because everyone wants to know, Scott’s main additions to Justine’s original novel are: Helshire College, cocktails (Justine doesn’t drink and hates bitter things), all the mathematics and art, the Lindqvists, Seths, and Woolvardts.

Our agent, Jill Grinberg has read every version of The Mortons more times than anyone and was an essential part of shaping it. We are so grateful to Jill, Denise Page, Sam Farkas, and everyone at Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Thank you for finding so many perfect homes for this book!

Huge thanks to Jeramie Orton at Pamela Dorman Books, Rosa Schierenberg at Viking UK, and Beverley Cousins at Penguin Random House Australia for their detailed and insightful edits on a long and unruly manuscript with too many characters. We’ve never received coauthored ed letters before, but how fitting for this coauthored book.

Thank you also to Kate Crawford, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Gemma Kyle, and Jaclyn Moriarty for their comments on the second version of the novel. Special thanks to Ezra Chowaiki for his guidance on NYC’s art world, and to Debbie Feiner for her medical expertise. Thanks to Jane Cavolina for helping us clarify the finalnal manuscript. Any errors are ours.

Lastly we’re thankful for our families: Jan, John, Niki, and Oliver. Lloyd, Betty, Renee, Wendy, Jackie, and Daenerys. Thank you to Niki Bern for understanding all the jokes, and to Lloyd Westerfeld for his incisive comment that “I like that the story has several powerful women and one beautiful man.”