Though details of the book are specific to Connecticut, ... what happens on the playground with the mothers (their social competition) is sort of universal. ... The irony is that even the women who seem to be the most together are feeling the same sort of insecurity. I think that there's anxiety felt by women who gave up careers in the city and wonder about the choice, and do that 'The grass is greener' thing. There's this pervasive attitude in America that if you have money nothing can go wrong, which isn't true ... often, economic security in fact is illusory.

Jennifer Weiner