Roland Merullo is the bestselling author of twenty-five works of fiction and nonfiction, including From These Broken Streets; Once Night Falls; The Delight of Being Ordinary; The Talk-Funny Girl, an Alex Award winner; Vatican Waltz, a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2013 pick; Breakfast with Buddha, an international bestseller; Lunch with Buddha, selected as one of the Best Books of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews; Revere Beach Boulevard, a Boston Globe Top 100 Essential Books of New England pick; and Revere Beach Elegy, winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. Born in Boston and raised in Revere, Massachusetts, Roland earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Russian language and literature at Brown University. A former Peace Corps volunteer, he has also made his living as a carpenter, college professor, and cabdriver. Roland writes a weekly essay series called On the Plus Side and lives in the hills of western Massachusetts with his family. For more information, visit www.rolandmerullo.com.