Orlean is the author of The Library Book. Instead of maintaining an air of journalistic objectivity, she inserts herself into the story. She uses her personal experiences at Los Angeles Public Library and recollections of visiting libraries during her childhood and young adulthood to guide the reader in understanding how libraries operate and serve communities. Orlean is a native of Cleveland. After college, she moved to New York and became a writer. She lived first in Manhattan for 20 years and then moved to the Hudson Valley. In 2011, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles after he accepted a job in the city. She visited Los Angeles numerous times before their move to do research for magazine articles and books. Orlean has a son, who was in first grade when her family relocated. Orlean’s mother, who accompanied Orlean during childhood visits to the library, died while Orlean was writing The Library Book.

Peak was alleged to be the arsonist who set the Los Angeles Central Public Library on fire in April 1986. He was born in 1959 and raised in Santa Fe Springs, a town in Los Angeles County’s southeast valley.