36 literary voices unite to craft a tale of community

The iconic Margaret Atwood and American author Doug Preston have spearheaded a unique novel in which 36 noted authors of the Authors Guild contribute by each creating and writing about one character living in a Lower East Side apartment building in Manhattan telling stories on the rooftop one week into the COVID-19 shutdown.

In launching “Fourteen Days” (Harper Collins), each author was tasked with creating an eccentric character; they would make up the tenants of the building and, in effect, build the narrative. The guidelines were loose, and the authors had no knowledge of what the others were writing about. It was the idea of Atwood and Preston to weave the work together into one strong literary voice.

“I had the challenge of figuring out how to bring strangers together as a community, both among the authors and the characters they created,” Preston says.

The book features an all-star lineup of contributors: Atwood, Preston, Diana Gabaldon, Emma Donoghue, Sylvia Day, Dave Eggers, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Erica Jong, R. L. Stine, Scott Turow, Meg Wolitzer, Roxana Robinson, Charlie Jane Anders, Jennine Capó Crucet, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Joseph Cassara, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, CJ Lyons, Mary Pope Osborne, Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, Ishmael Reed, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang and De’ Shawn Charles Winslow.

“Fourteen Days” draws readers into a Lower East Side tenement ambitiously called the Fernsby Arms, a building left behind by neighborhood gentrification and wealthier New Yorkers fleeing the pandemic. The bored, working-class residents of Fernsby Arms have little to do with each other — until one of them busts the bolt on the door to the roof.

One by one, the tenants begin to illegally gather on top of the building. Perched high above a city that has abandoned them, they convene to watch the sunset, cheer for health care workers and share stories about their lives.

As the chapters unfold, the lonely, wary and sometimes contentious neighbors begin to band together, creating a found family to weather the storm. Their rooftop becomes a microcosm of the world around them under siege by a plague, as well as a love letter to the resilient and indomitable spirit of New York City.

“I had the challenge of figuring out how to bring strangers together as a community, both among the authors and the characters they created,” Preston says.

All proceeds from the book will go to support the Authors Guild Foundation, which ensures the broad diversity of stories that are essential for democracy to flourish, fights book bans and library closures, and advocates for causes important to authors.