There’s the special fact that I love islands, I’ve always loved islands. And, of course, the book is about two islands and island life. John himself is an island lover. He tried to stay in Toronto, he tried to live in metropolis. He had to move to islands. Well, England is an island. I lived for 20 years on City Island which is part of New York, part of the Bronx but it is an island with a narrow bridge connecting it to the mainland. I liked the... the compactness and the self-sufficiency. When I…

[Q] How did you move to City Island?

I... I discovered City Island, or I find... found my house in City Island in an unusual way. I... I love swimming and at that time I would often go to Orchard Beach in the Bronx and go for long swims. And sometimes extra long swims in which I would swim round City Island. This would be an eight-hour swim.

One time I was swimming round City Island. I... I’d been at sea for about four hours when I spotted a charming gazebo. Incidentally gazebo is a word I love because it reminds me equally of gazelle and placebo. Anyhow, so I landed and I walked up the street and I saw a little red house for sale. In fact it had been occupied by a neurologist from the [Albert Einstein] College of Medicine but he was leaving it. He showed me round the house and then I walked up City Island Avenue in my swim trunks, I went to a realtor and I bought the house. I should say the realtor had seen me before because earlier that year, in a more conventional way, I’d looked at one or two houses and had expressed my interest in living in City Island. But this time, almost naked, I walked in, I bought the house, she conducted me to her house on the other side of City Island and I continued my swim, having acquired a house in mid-swim.