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The hate directed against the colored people here in St. Louis has always given me a sad feeling because when I was a little girl I remember the horror of the East St. Louis race riot.

I think the preponderant opinion clearly was that St. Louis could be a great football city if it had a team of its own that they could really root for.

You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

St. Louis has always been special to me.

It's obvious that St. Louis has certain advantages compared to other cities: namely, a concentration of financial services.

I wanted to write a novel that would make others feel the history: the pain and fear that black people have had to live through in order to endure.

During my childhood, Washington was a segregated city, and I lived in the midst of a poor black neighborhood. Life on the streets was often perilous. Indoor reading was my refuge, and twice a week, I made the hazardous bicycle trek to the central library at Seventh and K streets to stock up on supplies.

You know what, I had 11 great years with St. Louis. My gosh, those are the best years of my life. And I will never, ever forget that.