The Nine Fold Heaven. Mingmei Yip

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      It is hard to believe that The Nine Fold Heaven is already my fifth novel published by Kensington Books. While my life has been, fortunately, much easier than those of my heroines, the road to creating a novel is a long and sometimes arduous one. This is a process that needs a lot of nurturing, encouragement, and advice.

      Though writing is a solitary journey, I have been fortunate to have many people help and cheer me along the way.

      The first one I have to thank is my husband, Geoffrey Redmond, an endocrinologist and excellent writer with six books to his credit. Geoffrey is my eager first reader and honest critic, who is also patient and accommodating to his wife’s eccentricity, long writing hours, and weeks of living on Chinese takeout.

      I would like to thank the wonderful Kensington group, which has given me warm support throughout the years: my wonderful editor, Audrey LaFehr; the always helpful Martin Biro; publicists Karen Auerbach and Vida Engstrand; as well as President Steven Zacharius and Vice President Laurie Parkin.

      I would also like to thank my agent, Susan Crawford, at Crawford Literary Agency, as well as Lewis Frumkes for inviting me to the wonderful Hunter College