Benefits of Urbanization

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT SECOND CHANCES, AND I'M grateful to many friends and colleagues for helping with mine. Thanks go first to my far-flung writing pals. Alan Levy, cyber officemate, was there every day with bold ideas, humor, and encouragement; Barry Edelstein gave the gifts of uncommon friendship, intelligence, and dramaturgy; Maxine Paetro counseled with her exalted perspective and flair; Akiva Goldsman showed how to break out of the box; Gary Ross asked impossible questions; John Bowe reminded if it isn't hard, it isn't worth it; and Bruce Feiler guided with brilliant strategy and tactics and led the way to greater meaning with his penetrating mind and work. Gratitude also to J. J. Abrams, Bob Dolman, and Stan Pottinger.

Profound appreciation to friends who read at many stages: Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, David Doss, Lynn Harris, Joannie Kaplan, Steve Kehela, Christy Prunier, Kim Roth, Jennifer Sherwood, and Jamie Tarses.

Once more, I am privileged to be published by the Bantam family. Publisher Irwyn Applebaum and Senior Editor Danielle Perez deserve medals of valor for seeing Charlie St. Cloud through his unruly childhood and disobedient adolescence and for their unwavering care in helping find the story I meant to write from the beginning. Special commendations to Barb Burg and Susan Corcoran, friends, psychologists, and advocates.

At Picador in Britain, fistfuls of flowers to Ursula Doyle, Stephanie Sweeney, and Candice Voysey. In Los Angeles, an ovation to Marc Platt and Abby Wolf-Weiss for imagining Charlie St. Cloud on the silver screen, and to Donna Langley at Universal Pictures for being the book's champion.

Pages and pages of appreciation go to Joni Evans, supreme friend, coconspirator, and agent, who enriched every draft, deflected every bullet, and makes diving for dreams a reality. Boldface credit also to Alicia Gordon, Tracy Fisher, Andy McNiccol, Michelle Bohan, and Mike Sheresky.

Great gratitude goes to friends who aided and abetted along the way: Jonathan Barzilay; Jane and Marcus Buckingham; Chrissy, Priscilla, and Norm Colvin; Beth de Guzman; Sara Demenkoff; Debby Goldberg; Meg Greengold; Cindy Guidry; Suzy Landa; Ruth Jaffe; Mary Jordan; Barry Rosenfeld; Julie and Mark Rowen; Melissa Thomas; and Joe Torsella. A bow to David Segal for expert music recommendations. Dov Seidman, entrepreneur and chess adversary, deserves special recognition for urging a deeper investment. SPF-15 to Kristin Mannion and H. P. Goldfield for Whimsea. And a kiss to the late Phyllis Levy, who helped inspire this book and watches over from above.

Now a few words to my family. Once more, my mother, Dorothy Sherwood, attacked the manuscript with her relentless pencil and exacting standards, chomping on every word. Her talent as an editor is surpassed only by her genius as a parent. Jeffrey Randall, my generous and indefatigable neurosurgeon brother-in-law, kept the twenty-four-hour medical hotline open for every sort of professional and personal emergency. Someday my young nephews Richard and William Randall will read this story, and I wish them a sibling bond as rich, strong, and sustaining as the one I share with their accomplished and exceptional mother--my shining sister--Elizabeth Sherwood Randall. Our connection, forged in countless childhood adventures, informed much of this book, as did the memory of our father, Richard Sherwood, who vanished too soon but whose presence we feel every day.

Finally, this novel is dedicated to my wife, Karen Kehela Sherwood, whose heart, mind, and rare storytelling gifts grace every page. She is my querencia--my sunny spot, safe harbor, and true love.

ALSO BY BEN SHERWOOD

The Man Who Ate the 747

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF CHARLIE ST. CLOUD

A Bantam Book / March 2004

Published by Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

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

The lines from "dive for dreams" copyright (c) 1952, 1980, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust, from COMPLETE POEMS: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

All rights reserved

Copyright (c) 2004 by Ben Sherwood

Art on title page: (c) Royalty-Free/Corbis

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Bantam Books is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Visit our website at www.bantamdell.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sherwood, Ben.

The death and life of Charlie St. Cloud / Ben Sherwood.

p.cm.

1. Cemetery managers--Fiction. 2. Brothers--Death--Fiction. 3. Missing persons--Fiction. 4. Marblehead (Mass.)--Fiction. I. Title.

PS3569.H453D43 2004

813'.6--dc22

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 978-0-553-89874-3

v3.0

Benefits of Urbanization

Urbanization is defined as the movement of people to urban areas which results to growth of urban centers. Although urbanization has numerous social and economic benefits, it also has its share of disadvantages as well.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 921