Nanci Milone Hill - Reading Women: A Book Club Guide for Womens Fiction

First and foremost, I would like to thank Neil Hollands and Barry Trott from the Williamsburg Regional Library for seeing something in me and passing along my name to Barbara Ittner at ABC-CLIO. Barry and Neil are two men I look up to for their wisdom and dedication to readers services. I knew that if they believed in me, I could do this. Lucky for me, Barbara Ittner was looking for someone to write a guide book for women's fiction book groups and thought I had what it took to put together such a work. Barbara, you have been an amazing editor, not only putting up with my many missed deadlines but also shepherding me through the process of getting out a first book. Your insight and patience have been invaluable. I must also thank Arathi Pillai at PreMedia Global for her excellent editing skills. This book would not have been anywhere near ready for publication without her input.

Special thanks go to Bob Imhof, who not only believes in me, but has also been an excellent research assistant. No work on women's fiction would be complete without thanking the reading women in my own life. Thank you to my mother, Larraine Milone, my sisters, Silvia Milone Martin and Lori-ann Giamanco, and my daughter, Sarah Najat Al-Edwan. You are all intelligent, talented women in your own right, and my life is richer for having you in it. My grandmother, Sylvia Mitchell, told me at a very young age that I should be a writer. She would be so proud to see this book published. I love you Nana. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you and miss you. Leane Ellis, Readers Advisory Librarian at the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library in Wakefield, Massachusetts, gave me my first taste of working with readers. Leane holds in her head a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to readers advisory services. She's my go-to gal for all things R.A., and I wouldn't be where I was today without her inspiration.