Kate Bolick - Spinster: Making a Life of Ones Own

Spinster began at the MacDowell Colony in 2006, fell dormant for five years, and came roaring back to life in the wake of an article Scott Stossel asked me to write for the November 2011 issue of The Atlantic. For that assignment, and for the experience of working so closely with a genuine virtuoso, I will always be grateful.

Scott opened the door for me to publish this book, but without the archival research done by biographers and historians my essaying would be impossible. I am deeply indebted to the work of Angela Bourke, Lee Chambers-Schiller, Cynthia J. Davis, Carol DeBoer-Langworthy, Alice Kessler-Harris, Brooke Kroeger, Hermione Lee, Gerda Lerner, Nancy Milford, Christine Stansell, and Kathryn K. Sklar.

Special thanks to those who agreed to be interviewed and/or provided source material: Yvonne Jerrold, Edith Konecky, Hazel Markus, Janet Malcolm, Richard Rupp, and Sam Sifton. Also to those who answered crucial questions at key moments: Caleb Crain, Bella DePaulo, Dan and Marcia Edson, Susan Hertz, Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel, Karen Karbinger, Jack Kelley, Eric Klinenberg, Brian OKeefe, and Victor Tine.

The remarkable Susan Wissler, director of The Mount, gave me a winter writing residency (and my own summer interview series). Working with her, Ross Jolly, Rebekah McDougal, and Kelsey Mullen relieved the solitude of book writing and brought me closer to Edith Wharton. I am especially grateful to Anne Schuyler for her research.

I need to thank some teachers: Pete Moss, Susie Linfield, and the late Ellen Willis. Likewise, some early editors and bosses: Toby Lester, Cullen Murphy, and Dara Caponigro.

As I (mostly) left magazine journalism behind to write this book, my dear friend Courtney Hodell took my hand and led me through this domain she knows so well, reading my first draft and many drafts subsequent, offering vital critiques, and answering my endless questions about process and best practices. Id have drowned without her.

A few others helped keep me afloat. Karen Azoulay, Ali Bolick, Christopher Bolick, Doug Bolick, Michael Cobb, Malcolm Gladwell, Toby Lester, Courtney Lynch, Molly Pulda, Gary Sernovitz, and Dan Smith took time to read this manuscript and provide invaluable feedback. Conversations along the way with Ruth Altchek, Martha Almy, Carolyn Clement, Johanna Conterio, Alexandra Jacobs, Maria Maggenti, Gillian MacKenzie, Thomas Meaney, Ryan Nally, Jenny Nordberg, Willy Somma, Catherine Steindler, and Rebecca Traister inspired and sustained me. Erika Troseth Martinez cheered me on from afar.

Thanks to Karen Azoulay (again!) for assisting with photos, Eileen Reynolds for gathering early research, and Elizabeth Gumport for her fastidious checking of facts. Emily Drabinski e-mailed me academic articles whenever I asked, and the Washington Square Hotel put me up for two nights so I could live the Maeve Brennan life.

Tina Bennett is everything I could want in an agent: tough, honorable, learned, wise, and fearless; her edits were instrumental.

As for Crown: The magnetic Molly Stern saw the potential for this project like no other publisher. Vanessa Mobley is the kind of editor reputed to no longer exist: generous with her time, skilled at knowing when and how to push, able to make the weak parts strong. Claire Potter made everything difficult easy. I greatly benefited from the talents of Chris Brand, Elizabeth Rendfleisch, and Terry Deal.

Seth Colter Walls had the misfortune of meeting me at the exact moment I embarked on this book, though I was fortunate. His erudition elevated my thinking; his conceptual and creative suggestions helped me find my own direction; his humor and emotional support brightened the dark season of doubt.

Whenever I call my father in the middle of his workday and ask if hes too busy to talk, he says, Never too busy for you. This lesson in always being available to the people you care about is one my brother learned well. They have seen me through everything, and my love for them is boundless.