What drew you to these particular four subjects?

Since high school I've laughed - and cried - over Dorothy Parker's verse and stories. But writing her life story made me realize that she was not the only clever, witty woman of her generation. All of the women in this book were blessed with terrific senses of humor, even though some pretty awful things happened to them.

Which one is your favorite?

It's hard to choose but probably Dorothy Parker - she is one of a kind. I also admire Ferber for her grit, Millay for her inspirational self-confidence, and Fitzgerald for outstanding courage in the line of fire. Two of the gutsiest people in the book, Jane Grant and Ruth Hale, are not well known today.

Who do you think was the best writer?

Let's face it: there were no geniuses among them, no Woolfs or Whartons. But Parker was the most entertaining humorist, Millay the most gifted poet, Ferber the best storyteller, and Fitzgerald the most exciting autobiographical novelist.

What drew you to the 1920s?

The "ain't we got fun" decade was a crazy ten-year party: the booziest, sexiest, whoopiest time in the entire century. I can't think of any period that is more fun to write about. In terms of American literature, it was a golden age: an era that produced Hemingway and Fitzgerald has got to have fifty-carat sparkle.