“The hardest part of writing the book was cutting myself loose from reality, but when I did, I really started to have fun with it. I moved the story from the East Village to Washington Square Park, which is my neighborhood. When my kids were little, our family used to spend so much time there running around in the fountain, going to outdoor concerts, watching the guys play chess, people from different backgrounds coming together. The book became a way for me to celebrate the serendipity of friendship and the haphazard way communities form in cities like New York.”