KRISTIN KLADSTRUP says, "I have always loved the big brick house in Iowa where my mother grew up. From its windows, you can look out and see beautiful fields and pastures. But when I was young, I was always ignoring what was in front of me and wishing for something more exciting. From those same windows, I could imagine the ocean stretching out to the Iowa horizon. If I'd had the chance, I might have written a story beginning about it, just as Oscar does. But I was also much more inclined to pretend things than to write them down. Now that I'm grown up, things are backward: I can't pretend much of anything without writing it down. That's why there's now a pretend brick house in Iowa to go along with the real one!" Kristin Kladstrup lives with her family near Boston, Massachusetts. This is her first novel.
