John Kenney - Talk to Me

Ted was trending.

You write a book only partially alone. You rely on a lot of people for help.

To my editor and dear friend, Sally Kim, for believing in me and making this book better. I feel exceptionally fortunate to have an editor who supports her writers like a mother bear. Assuming that a bear could use a pen.

Thanks to many other wonderful people at G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Danielle Dieterich, Gabriella Mongelli, Alexis Welby, Ashley Hewlett, Ashley McClay, Brennin Cummings, Jordan Aaronson, and Bonnie Rice. There are also men who work at Putnam. Ivan Held is one of them and I thank him (not for being a man, but for being a kind, supportive man).

Also at Putnam, Joel Breuklander. I missed several crucial production deadlines and Joel was kind enough not to use his extensive collection of samurai swords on me. I would like to thank him and the entire production team for the most valuable thing a writer needs besides wine. Time.

To Andy Bird, my boss and mate at my day job. Andy routinely walked by my work desk and saw me working on my novel instead of, say, the things he actually pays to work on. “Ya awright?” he said with a smile. At least I think that’s what he said. He actually may have fired me. But he’s from Newcastle and thus has a Geordie accent so it can be hard to tell. A kinder, more creative soul I have never met.

Several trusted readers gave guidance and support, including my brother, Charlie, and my good friends Debbie Kasher, Rick Knief, and Bill Landay.

A special thanks to my mother-in-law and friend, Linda Funke, for reading and guiding and catching my many mistakes. Thank you, Ninna.

My children, Lulu and Hewitt, for their patience.

My wife, Lissa. Reader, editor, tireless listener. Thank you.

John Kenneyis the author of Truth in Advertising , which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor in 2014. He has worked as a copywriter in New York City for seventeen years. He has also been a contributor to The New Yorker magazine since 1999. Some of his work appears in a collection of The New Yorker ’s humor writing, Disquiet, Please! He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Truth in Advertising

Love Poems for Married People (poetry)

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

Publishers Since 1838

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

penguinrandomhouse.com

Copyright © 2019 by John Kenney

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kenney, John, author.

Title: Talk to me / John Kenney.

Description: New York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons, [2019]

Identifiers: LCCN 2018005887 (print) | LCCN 2018013811 (ebook) | ISBN 9780735214385 (ePub) | ISBN 9780735214378 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Domestic fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3611.E6665 (ebook) | LCC PS3611.E6665 T35 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018005887

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version_1