Almost four years since COVID-19 became a household term, a new work of fiction proves that even a global pandemic can’t curb creativity.

“Fourteen Days” is billed as a “collaborative novel.” Edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston, the book was written by 36 American and Canadian authors. Many of the names will be familiar to readers. In addition to Atwood, contributors include Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, John Grisham, Erica Jong, Celeste Ng, R.L. Stine and Scott Turow. Preston wrote the frame narrative that pulls the stories together into a novel with a plot, conflicts and a surprising resolution of its own.

Consisting of 14 chapters dated from March 31 to April 13, 2020, the book tells the story of how the residents of the Fernsby Arms, “a decaying, crapshack tenement” on Manhattan’s Lower East Side “that should have been torn down long ago,” spent the early weeks of the lockdown. They don’t have much in common except for their residence and the fact they were unable to get out of town during the pandemic like more affluent city dwellers did. Assembling on the rooftop to bang pots and pans in appreciation of the healthcare heroes during their shift change, the characters decide to spend each evening storytelling. They haul their own furniture to the roof, sit six feet apart, and share.