A Goodreads user asked Alexander C. Kane:

I find interesting that your main character is of Haitian origin. how are you connected to the community? btw, I really loved the book and reminded me of Douglas Adams

Alexander C. Kane Thanks! I wanted to write a book about an extraordinary human being who has been ground down by the world and made to feel ordinary. I didn't really know who she was until I started writing the first page and I immediately thought of my friend Emmanuel. We were both teachers together at a high school in Queens. He was born and raised in Queens, the youngest son of Haitian immigrants. Like Andrea, he had a degree from an Ivy League University. I had just moved to New York from Florida, but we became tight enough that we called each other Brother From Another Mother. We had the same sophomoric sense of humor and the same knowledge base of 90's television shows. We used to do the Beavis and Butthead dance in the hallways. Emmanuel is one of the smartest people I've ever met, and I saw how that job and our boss ground him down. Andrea is different from Emmanuel in a number of ways, but he and his family were definitely inspirations for Andrea and the Vernons.
When I first started writing the book, I did not really think it would ever get published. I wasn't even sure I'd ever finish it, but I wanted to do my best to represent a culture I did not come from without being exploitative or relying on stereotypes so I asked Emmanuel a lot of questions. We haven't worked together in over 10 years, but he was very helpful and talked me a lot about food and family and culture. Many of the things he told me worked their way into the book and upcoming sequel.
Thank you again for the question. Also, you made me miss Emmanuel again, so now I'm going to have to give him a call.

flag