To Sir, With Love - Lauren Layne Page 0,81

Nora Ephron updated the story in You’ve Got Mail to business rivals falling in love over email. In To Sir, with Love, I wanted to bring that wonderful, classic premise into the twenty-first century, and being a millennial (albeit an elder millennial), for me that meant Gracie and the mysterious Sir falling in love over, what else: an app.

One thing that struck me, even as I wrote Gracie constantly checking her phone in a very twenty-first-century kind of way, is the timelessness of this story. Gracie breathlessly waiting for a notification on her app didn’t feel so different from Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart checking their physical mailboxes in The Shop Around the Corner in 1940. Or Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks listening to that unmistakable ’90s sound (to those of us who remember it) of AOL connecting to the Internet, holding their breath in the hopes that they’d hear those three little words: You’ve got mail!

I realized that while I set out to create a modern homage to Parfumerie, in the end, it didn’t matter whether it was a letter, an email, a postcard, a telegram, a text, or a message in a dating app. This is not a story about technology or the specific means of communication. This is a story about hope. It’s about determined optimism that the person on the other side of that written communication will be every bit as wonderful as he or she seems to be. It’s a story about the folly of first impressions, about forgiveness and growth, about kindness and friendship.

Handwritten letters may be increasingly becoming a thing of the past, but those feelings of finding yourself and falling in love never go out of style. It’s my fondest hope that I’ve captured those feelings in these pages.

The early stages of this story happened inside my head—years’ worth of musing, of discovering the characters, of uncovering the story’s essence, and lots of early mornings hunched over my laptop at 5 a.m., desperately trying to type the story as quickly as it was unfolding in my imagination.

Upon finishing the first draft, however, To Sir, with Love became a group effort, in the best sort of way. This story absolutely would not exist in its current form without the hard work, patience, and genius of my editor, Sara Quaranta. She seemed to know what I was trying to do with the story better than I did, and somewhere amidst the pesky world of revisions, I uncovered not only the heart of the story but also a new friend in Sara.

I am so fortunate to have discovered an incredible publishing partner in Gallery. Their support for me, and this book, has been almost palpable. A huge thank-you to Lisa Litwack and Connie Gabbert for understanding so thoroughly the cover this story needed, even before it was finished. To Faren Bachelis and Crissie Johnson Molina, for their enviable attention to detail as they patiently polished all my writing’s rough edges. And especially to Christine Masters, who I’m convinced is some sort of wizard, with the magical ability to take tens of thousands of words and whip them into book-shape.

And, as always, no Lauren Layne book would exist in the world without the unwavering support of Nicole Resciniti, my amazing agent, whose belief in me has never wavered since those early days when she plucked my messy first manuscript out of the slush pile and gave me a shot at making my dreams come true.

I also need to thank my inner circle—the people who know me not as Lauren Layne, but simply as Lo, or Fern, or “Well, Lauren always did read a lot as a kid, so I guess it makes sense she’s turned into a hermit writer now…” Your love and support, even while I disappear for weeks at a time inside a manuscript, mean the world to me. To my husband, Anthony, in particular, for refilling my coffee cup without my asking, for making me meals even when I’m deep into a scene and probably forget to say thank you. I love my book heroes, but make no mistake: you are the real hero.

To all of my readers, especially those who’ve been with me since my earliest Stiletto days, who patiently go along with whatever my Muse feels like writing, who offer words of encouragement and who I feel—truly feel—silently cheering me on, even when I take a step back from social media and “public life” to focus on my writing. I’m very grateful for you, and I appreciate you, even when I’m quiet. Especially when I’m quiet.

And lastly, to Miklós László for creating a story so wonderful, so beloved that it’s inspired writers and creators many times over, and to the late, great Nora Ephron for being so freaking fabulous.

xo.

Lauren Layne

December 2020