10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About THE GLASS HOUSE PEOPLE

So, continuing my lists of things people may not know about my earlier books, here's another!

1.THE GLASS HOUSE PEOPLE was actually the third book I wrote, even though it was published as my second... 2. The main character, Beth, also shows up in PAPERQUAKE as Violet's best friend! 3. Abby Chandler (from PALE PHOENIX) is mentioned in THE GLASS HOUSE PEOPLE... (It's sort of like 'Where's Waldo?' Can you find her?!) 4. The layout of the house on Spring Street is modeled on the house my grandparents owned in Drexel Hill, PA., where I spent happy weeks every summer while growing up. 5. Beth's talent for making stained glass windows was inspired by my mom's. My mom has made incredible windows, and she taught me how to make a small one myself so I would understand how to describe Beth's artwork and process. 6. Monica's candy store next to the Waverley Theater is modeled on Dietz's, a popular Drexel Hill candy shop from my mom's childhood that sold every kind of sweet in big barrels and bins. Kids would load up with candy from Dietz's and then go to a movie at the Waverley! 7. My college boyfriend begged me to put him in one of my books as a character. I jokingly told him if I were to do that, I might have to kill him off--but he said he didn't mind! So... that's how Clifton got his name. 8. The hardcover art always bothered me because of the mysterious woman in the long dress standing at the top of the stairs. I still don't know who that is supposed to be! 9. I learned how to choreograph my first 'crowd scene' by writing and rewriting the scene when Beth's family and their friends are all in the living room at the dinner party and Aunt Iris makes a drunken scene. Hard to keep track of everybody! 10. Mills College, where I am a Professor of English, gets a guest-mention in THE GLASS HOUSE PEOPLE because Beth's mom, Hannah, has been accepted to be a student there. Mills also gets a nod in THE STRANGE CASE OF BABY H.