I’ve had the great fortune of working on this book with some extraordinary women. Joy Peskin is a magical editor. Mollie Glick is a badass agent. Both gave their whole hearts and great minds to this book and it is immeasurably better as a result.
Thanks too to Zoey Peresman, who dove in with incredible enthusiasm and thoughtfulness (and reminded me that a prom matters); and to the teams at FSG and Foundry Literary + Media, for everything they’ve done to bring this book into the world.
Several dear friends were vital sounding boards. Ellen Shanman and Brooke Lyons Osswald gave time and love to early drafts. The women of the TCFBWC—Anna McCallie, Heather Peske, Meagan Comb, Maria Fenwick, and Ellie Eckerson—competed for the best plot ideas and urged me forward. Leslie Kwok Potter and Alexis Carra Girbés are my Lenas, and I’m grateful to them for everything that means.
The good people of GrubStreet make Boston a better place to be a writer. Thanks to the community I met there, in particular to Emily Terry, Jennifer Barnes, Jennifer Johnson, and Beth Jones, for their insights along the way. Most importantly, of course, to Elaine Dimopoulos, who taught me much about the craft and business of writing for young adults, and to Laura Chandra, the plot whisperer; this book wouldn’t be itself without them.
I won the family lottery, and I try not to forget it. To all the McGoverns and Lewises, genetic and otherwise, much love and gratitude. A special shout-out, too, to my excellent niece and nephews, Addison, Connor, William, and Nicolas.
The only bittersweetness of this experience is that my grandmother, Alice Lewis, isn’t here to share it. But if she were, she’d probably say, “What? MacDougal wrote a book? Well, of course she did.” Gram was sharp-witted, fiercely independent, and book-loving; her influence remains singular and salient, and I thank her for that daily.
Finally, my parents, Kathryn Lewis and Jim McGovern: They raised me in a house full of books and made me believe I could write them. Their love carries me through this world.
About the Author
McGovern has taught theatre and language arts to middle schoolers in Boston, New York, and London. A graduate of Yale and Oxford, she currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was born and raised. Rules for 50/50 Chances is her first novel. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Winter
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Spring
Eighteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Thirty
Summer
Thirty-one
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010
Text copyright © 2015 by Kate McGovern
All rights reserved
eBook edition, November 2015
fiercereads.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
McGovern, Kate.
Rules for 50/50 chances / Kate McGovern.
pages cm
Summary: “Seventeen-year-old Rose Levenson must decide whether or not she wants to take the test to find out if she has Huntington’s disease, the degenerative disease that is slowly killing her mother”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-374-30158-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-374-30160-6 (e-book)
[1. Huntington’s disease—Fiction. 2. Sick—Fiction. 3. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 4. Family life—Massachusetts—Boston—Fiction. 5. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Rules for fifty-fifty chances.
PZ7.7.M4385Rul 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2015003573
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eISBN 9780374301606