DC By the Book

Excerpt: I finished my bagel as we stepped out the door and onto the stoop. We lived on the edge of Georgetown, about as far southeast as you can get and still be in the district. Dad’s grandparents had bought our house a long time ago, but Dad said the street looked pretty much the same then as it did now: with lots of cozy little two-story brick homes squeezed together like lines of dancers dressed in warm, red wool.

Excerpt: Thornton Landing stood at the foot of the Francis Scot Key Bridge, where cars and trucks thumped rhythmically overhead. Behind it, more vehicles sped along the elevated highway. Once boats had crossed the Potomac River to this spot, but now a restaurant and shops lined the riverbank.