Having been in her neighborhood 35 years, and alarmed by how isolating the lockdown was, Carroll began a pandemic practice of reaching out to neighbors she'd known for years but may have lost track of: saying hello, checking on them and setting up walks and talks.

Her aim was to rediscover the elusive element that turned their not-so-great neighborhood into a cherished, even prized place to live. The conversations that ensued with her current neighbors -funny, touching, nostalgic-brought memories of her own childhood back to life, in a neighborhood a mere mile or two from where she lives today but more than 60 years apart in time: Memories of the neighbors who helped form her, of growing up in the 1960s amid nine brothers and sisters with an eccentric former movie-star grandmother and a street packed with kids.

Across the Street Around the Corner melds together these neighborhoods, combining stories both hilarious and uplifting with simple observations and inspirations. Across the Street Around the Corner: The Road Home opens our eyes on how to live a little bit better in the neighborhood life happens to place you. In these divisive times, this slim, giftable book is a comfort and a balm and every bit as warm, engaging, inspiring, and funny as the author's first two enduringly popular books, Saint Everywhere and Somehow Saints