Why Pessa Goes to Positano

I have a background in political finance, which is a very serious way of saying I spent years watching powerful people at parties. It turns out that is excellent training for a novelist.

Pessa came out of a simple question I kept circling: how much of a beautiful, high-pressure life is actually yours, and how much is just something you are holding for other people? I sent her to Positano because the Amalfi Coast is the kind of place that makes you ask that out loud.

The book is meant to be fun — a fast, warm read you can finish on a plane or a beach. But underneath the champagne there is a woman deciding what she gets to keep. That is the part I cared about most.