Before com­plet­ing this nov­el, Jere Krakoff was a civ­il rights attor­ney with the ACLU Nation­al Prison Project and oth­er pub­lic inter­est pro­grams. He spent his for­ma­tive years in a col­or­ful Jew­ish enclave and equal­ly col­or­ful house­hold. His satire is root­ed in things he observed while grow­ing up and expe­ri­enced while prac­tic­ing law.