The Photographer by Mary Carter (best summer books TXT) 📕

for be lieving in this book. To the remarkable Sarah Melnyk, for her excellent ideas and creativity. To Danielle Prielipp, for her enthusiasm. To Paul Hochman. To Chrisinda Lynch, as well as Kaitlin Severini and Justine Gardner. To David Rotstein, for designing a beautiful cover. Thank you to the entire phenomenal team at Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Publishing Group and their fabulous publisher, Jennifer Enderlin, who has been a great champion of this book. I am fortunate to be in their midst.

For her commitment to this book and her excellent notes, I am grateful to Jo Dickinson, my UK editor, and her talented colleagues at Hodder & Stoughton.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude to my magnificent friend Faith Salie. She is the angel who introduced me to Stephanie Kip Rostan.

Because I have the opportunity here and now, thank you, thank you, thank you to the magical Michelle Kroes, who opened doors to a television series, and all of her colleagues at CAA, especially Michelle Weiner and Arian Akbar. Thank you to Sam Esmail, Sarah Matte, Chad Hamilton, Andy Campagna, and Madison Cline for seeing the potential in this story.

I’m deeply indebted to my teacher and friend Helen Schulman for her direction and instruction and for telling me she believed this was a book. Thank you to another teacher and friend, Luis Jaramillo, for his excellent ideas and guidance. To John Freeman and Tiphanie Yanique, both of whom responded with enthusiasm to the first twenty pages.

To three amazing ladies: Dina Lee, KrisAnne Madaus, and Nicole Starczak—all of whom gave me constructive notes, again and again and again.

Thank you to the genius Anika Streitfeld, who taught me more than I can say and whose illuminating notes brought countless moments from my mind to the page.

To Michael Carlisle, for his mentorship and friendship.

I am grateful to my entire family—to all the Carters around the country, as well as the Holbrooks, Heaths, Wiesenthals, Cohens, Schonwalds, Carter-Weidenfelds, and Wellers.

To Ginna Carter, who is always my ally; to Jon Carter, Pamela Carter, Whendy Carter, Ellen Carter, Ali Marsh, Fred Weller, Eve Holbrook, and Claus Sørenson. To Hal Holbrook, who is rooting for me. To Joyce Cohen, a loyal friend. To Arthur Carter and Linda Carter, for their unending love and support.

And to my mother, Dixie Carter, who is with me in spirit.

I am ever so fortunate to have married into the Kempf family—Nancy and Don Kempf, Kathy and Donald Kempf, and Charlie Kempf, who is no longer with us—but especially Nancy Kempf, who treats me like her own daughter and hopes for my success, like she would for her own.

Thank you to Manfred Flynn Kuhnert for many years of education in art and images, story and structure. And for an invaluable friendship.

To Cara Natterson and Sherry Ross for guidance on medical questions. And to Karen Snyder, Larry Golfer, and William Lewis for guidance on photography questions. For helping me in big ways and small ways, directly and indirectly, thank you to Ilsa Brink, Fauzia Burke, Jake Carter, Juan Castillo, Ming Chen, Wah Chen, Ali Clark, Aleksandra Crapanzano, Hayden Goldblatt, Lydia Kris, Dylan Landis, Darya Mastronardi, Lisa Choi Owens, Steve Owens, Mo Rocca, Beowulf Sheehan, Drew Vinton, and Jaime Wolf.

The biggest thank-you of all goes to my husband and best friend, Steve Kempf, who has brought me so much happiness. Without him, I wouldn’t have this book. Finally, I am grateful to Eleanor and Henry—the brightest joys of my life. You are everything.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARY DIXIE CARTER’S writing has appeared in TIME, The Economist, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Sun, The New York Observer, and other print and online publications. She worked at the Observer, where she served as the publishing director, for five years. In addition to writing, she also has a background as a professional actor. Mary Dixie graduated from Harvard College with an honors degree in English literature and holds an MFA in creative writing from The New School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two young children. You can sign up for email updates here.

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 CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Five Years Later

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Copyright © 2021 by Mary Dixie Carter. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein

Cover image © Valentino Sani / Trevillion Images

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Names: Carter, Mary Dixie, author.

Title: The photographer / Mary Dixie Carter.

Description: First edition. | New York: Minotaur Books, 2021.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020053266 | ISBN 9781250790330 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250790347 (ebook)

Subjects: GSAFD: Suspense fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3603.A777754 P48 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020053266

eISBN 9781250790347

Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

First Edition: 2021