Thrust: A Novel

My research on the history of sex work in 1800s America included two books that were of major influence in creating the character of Aurora: City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790–1920 by Timothy J. Gilfoyle and City of Women: Sex and Class in New York 1789–1860 by Christine Stansell. The material on Helen Jewett is drawn largely from Patricia Cline Cohen’s excellent The Murder of Helen Jewett.

The story of the kidnapped child is extrapolated from the fascinating Charley Ross the Kidnapped Child: The Father’s Story, by the boy’s father, Christian K. Ross. Oceans of gratitude to Domi Shoemaker for finding and gifting me this book from 1876 (!!!).

The quoted material about Timothy McVeigh is documented in American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck. The authors spent more than forty hours interviewing McVeigh in prison, leading to the tapes that form the basis of their television special, The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist.

Books don’t just materialize from an author’s head, nor exclusively from research and creative labor. The making of books is a creative collaboration, and this book owes its very life to several radiant souls whose lives threaded through mine. I am forever grateful to Melanie Conroy-Goldman and everyone at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where I spent a magical year as the Trias Writer. Put simply, the year changed my life forever. Most of the ground of Thrust emerged between long walks around Seneca Lake and deep creative engagement with the Trias Squad. (I remember every single one of you — Allison Palmer, Madeline Herbert, Emma Honey, Max Romana, Christopher Costello, Bethany Kharrazi, Hanan Issa, Katie Kumta, Anna Flaherty, Lilly Shea, and Jackie Steinman — and I will forever.) All of us left winter term and traveled straight into the mouth of COVID; perhaps we are forever imprinted on one another from moving through our own creativity into the crucible that came next. I carry you all in my heart.

Endless gratitude to my Valkyrie agent, Rayhané Sanders, and my brilliant, patient, inspirational editor, Calvert Morgan. Without you two my imagination cannot find form or motion.

Full-throated love and thanks to my sister Brigid, who read early versions of this material, who helped me keep my passion light lit, and who reflected back to me that my ideas deserve to live.

And always to my north star, Andy Mingo, creative soulmate, love of my life. Thank you for helping me move this work from chaos to order (and for the whiteboard idea, even though I hated it at first). Thank you for believing in my stories and for keeping me on the planet in spite of myself. What a ride it’s been. I love you into the everything.