AUTHOR’S NOTEThis novel started with an exercise in writing fiction almost forty years ago, in William Kennedy’s fiction writing class at the Albany Public Library. I remember turning in a short story, entitled “Aan Zee,” which was the seed of what has become Chapter 4 in this novel -- the convoluted journey inside the hotel from the reception area to the protagonist’s assigned room. Kennedy gave me praise for it and urged me to expand the short story into a novel.
Yes, the story started with a real conference I was invited to in The Hague, and yes, the setting of the first chapter is inspired by the monolithic architecture of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, but everything else is pure fiction, even the topic of the conference and even Aunt Frieda, the puritan well-meaning aunt in the A
