Laura Fitzgerald - One True Theory of Love

Table of Contents

Every mother, every daughter, and anyone whos ever been in love should read this book! Grab the tissues. Its a triumphant tearjerker!

New York Times bestselling author
Vicki Lewis Thompson

Evocative, poignant, and truly lovely. Laura Fitzgerald gives us a glimpse of a culture thats terrifyingly differentand yet heartbreakingly the same as our own.

Alesia Holliday, author of
Seven Ways to Lose Your Lover

A fun, romantic, and thought-provoking debut novel from a promising author. Booklist

A gorgeously authentic voice. Fitzgeralds narrative is infused with wit, warmth, and compassion. If you like cross-cultural books, you wont want to put this down.

Kavita Daswani, author of Salaam, Paris
and For Matrimonial Purposes

In this winning debut, Fitzgerald has crafted the powerful story of one womans courage to look beyond the life she has been givenVeil of Roses is a poignant and uplifting novel full of charm, wit, and grace.

Beth Kendrick, author of Fashionably Late
and Newlyweds

Watching Tami find her voice through such small comforts as being able to sit alone in a house, walk to school unescorted, or buy lingerie with her sister will leave readers rooting for her. Publishers Weekly

After picking up Veil of Roses, I did everything one-handed for two days, I was so unwilling to put it down! Charming and heartbreaking and hopeful and funny, this is the rare book that completely transports the reader. Laura Fitzgerald is an amazing talent.

Lani Diane Rich, author of
A Little Ray of Sunshine

Poignant and warm, Veil of Roses is a story about having hope, finding love, and embracing freedom. I loved it.

Whitney Gaskell, author of
Testing Kate

This book is dedicated to my children, Carly and Luke,
and to the adults they will one day be.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing a book can be a long, lonely journey. Mine wasnt. Id like to thank the following people, whose efforts and involvement made the process both challenging and fun:

My first thanks go to Ellen Edwards at NAL, for her editorial tenacity, sharp eye, and open mind as the story changed and grew... and changed again, and again... and again. I am also appreciative of: Becky Vinter, Monica Benalcazar, Kara Welsh, and Claire Zion. Thank you to Jennifer Bernard and the other publicists working with Craig Burke; to Rick Pascocello and his team in advertising and promotion; to Sharon Gamboa, Don Rieck, Norman Lidofsky and his entire sales team; and to Trish Weyenberg and all the sales representatives in the field.

Thank you to Stephanie Rostan, my very trusted agent at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, and to the rest of the Levine Greenberg team, especially Monika Verma, Beth Fisher, Melissa Rowland, and Miek Coccia.

I am profoundly grateful to Ross Browne at The Editorial Department for his editorial support throughout the extensive writing and editing process. His high standards, good sense, and laid-back persistence made this an immeasurably better book.

My friends and family continue to offer meaningful support and cheerleading on a daily basis. Thank you all. Extra special appreciation this time around goes to: Bill and Maureen, my parents, for hosting me when Im in Milwaukee and spreading the word about me when Im not; Julie Ore-Giron, who pounds the miles alongside me and is an excellent brain-storming partner, as well as generous with her time and enthusiasm in reading draft after draft; Lisa Dew, for a lifetime of friendship; Sherry Martin and Todd Martin, for ongoing friendship and support; Robin Brande, for being my writing-pal confidante; Annette Everlove, for legal advice and inspired feedback; Daisy Lebron, for sharing some of her toughest life lessons; Colleen Geurts, for sharing her single-mom rules for dating; Austin Hodge, founder of the lovely tea shop Seven Cups, for the tea lesson; Renni Browne, for her presubmission editing; Peggy Bommersbach, for her friendship and for sharing what its like to be a young person in an old womans body; to the women in my book club, for being great examples of how to live rich.

I so appreciate the readers and bloggers and book clubs who contacted me after reading my first novel, Veil of Roses, and shared their thoughts and invited me into their worlds. Please stay in touch! A special thanks to Liz Broomfield and a hang-tough to Stephanie Coleman-Chan.

Finallysaving the best for last: I thank Carly and Luke (poets and writers, both) for being such truly excellent individuals. I thank Farhad forwell, simply for everything. (I have kept a list....)

Its easy to look at men and think theyre idiots. They watch their ESPN and sneak their Playboys and for no good reason at all refuse to ask for directions. Its easy to think theres just not a heck of a lot of depth in men as a species.

Meg Clark stood and waited in front of her twenty-three kindergartners at Foundation Elementary School on Tucsons south side. It was the last ten minutes of the school day, and at this hour they were ABCd out and ring-around-the-rosy pooped. The time might have been better spent with them resting on their mats. But Meg always took this moment, because to her it was the one that mattered most.

She began and ended the day with song, and now, a few weeks into the new school year, her students knew that when she clapped and announced afternoon-circle time, they were to push the small-person tables and chairs out of the way and gather in a standing circle for one last time that day.

Theyd already sung Down on the Banks of the Hanky Panky and jumped like bullfrogs from one imaginary lily pad to another. Theyd done Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, and they were almost through their last song when Meg put out both arms like a school crossing guard and said, Okay, stop!

Her students came to a kids version of a standstill. Meg waited as they collectively squirmed, tilting forward on their anticipatory toes. Scanning the circle, she looked at each in turn. There was Antonio, with his grin so big she wanted to scoop him up and smother him with hugs. There were Rachel and Emma and Max and Dylan and Taylor and Kira and Isaac and Remi and Ryan and Morgan and Katherine and Isabelle and Carly and Lukeall of them, with their beautiful, soulful eyes. In a school that was ninety-five percent Latino, most were dark-featured, the opposite of Meg, but at this point in their young lives, being the opposite of Meg didnt matter. They accepted her fully with their untainted hearts.