Angie Cruz on the Character Who Came To Her in Transit

“I said, I will only listen to Cara Romero when I’m commuting—either on a train, a bus, or a plane. And I always worked on it on my phone for the first drafts. It was like a game—some people play Wordle, I was playing the game with Cara Romero.”

Angie Cruz is a novelist and editor. Her most recent novel is How Not To Drown in A Glass of Water (2022). Her novel, Dominicana was the inaugural book pick for GMA book club and shortlisted for The Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction, The Aspen Words Literary Prize, a RUSA Notable book and the winner of the ALA/YALSA Alex Award in fiction. Cruz is the author of two other novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee. She divides her time between Pittsburgh, New York and Turin.