My uncle Ed mailed postcards to me from his home in Chicago when I was a kid, and the greeting was always the same: “Hello Beautiful.” I knew my uncle didn’t really know what I looked like—I saw him very rarely—but that’s why I loved the greeting. It felt like he believed I was beautiful on the inside, and since (as an introverted, bookish child) my insides were the most significant part of me, I appreciated this. The title of my novel, and the fact that it’s set in the neighborhood of Pilsen in Chicago, is because of my uncle. Ed’s wife, Theresa, grew up in Pilsen, and she and Ed lived there for many years. When I was growing up, we visited my aunt and uncle (and my two cousins) once or twice, but most of my sense of Pilsen came from the postcards Ed sent. In childhood, magical lands rise up inside us, and my uncle and his mural-covered neighborhood was one of mine.

When I started thinking about writing Hello Beautiful, it felt obvious to me that the story should be set in Chicago, and Pilsen. It felt like this story and this location had been waiting inside me for a long time. I visited Chicago in the fall of 2019 to see Pilsen clearly through adult eyes, and my aunt and uncle were kind enough to give me a long tour. Almost everyone we walked by in Pilsen greeted my aunt by name, and many knew my uncle, too. This neighborhood may have been unfamiliar to me, but I felt connected to it through them.

This is me at dinner with my uncle Ed and aunt Theresa after they’d given me the tour of Pilsen. Theresa’s mother, Guadalupe Reyes, was a very well-known activist and community leader in Pilsen, and Theresa and several of her siblings have followed in their mother’s footsteps. My aunt has done a tremendous amount of good for her community over the course of her life. I admire her and Ed very much.

This is the Lozano Library, which sits in the middle of Pilsen on a three-way intersection. I knew the moment I saw it that the library would be a centerpiece in the novel, and that one of the Padavano sisters would be a librarian. I love libraries with all my heart—they are my personal version of church—and I wanted to set myself and Sylvie there for the duration of the story. I also deeply enjoy having a physical reference like this when I write, because I can picture Sylvie walking in and out of these specific doors when she goes to work. There’s a scene in Hello Beautiful when Sylvie’s mother, Rose, walks past the many windows of the library while Sylvie watches her from inside, and this photo was in my head while I wrote the scene.

I knew the Padavanos were Catholic and would therefore have a local parish. When I saw St. Procopius, which is only a few blocks from the Lozano Library, I knew that this was the Padavanos’ church. I was raised Catholic, and I’m very familiar with the cadence of a family life that is anchored by attending weekly mass.

This is the lovely side yard of St. Procopius, where William and Julia hold their wedding reception. I can picture the sisters and William’s friend Kent and everyone else who attended their wedding filling this lawn. The image makes me smile.

The other location I knew I needed to find when I visited Pilsen was a basketball court. I went to every park within a reasonable radius of Pilsen, wanting to find the court that looked “right” for William and Arash’s basketball clinic. When I arrived at Throop Park, the most unassuming of the parks, I knew this was the one. It’s right around the corner from St. Procopius, and I could picture William standing on this court, dribbling a basketball in order to clear his thoughts.

Pilsen has been known for its colorful murals for decades, and I loved wandering through the neighborhood looking at the beautiful artwork. These are only a few of the many murals I photographed that day—I filled my phone with them. I didn’t yet know that one of the Padavano sisters would turn out to a muralist in Pilsen, and that lives would change because of what Cecelia painted on the walls of this neighborhood. On the day I visited Pilsen in 2019, I was simply thrilled by the idea of the Padavano family walking past these vibrant walls as they went about their lives.

“Hands in Unity,” created by 30 teens as part of Jeff Maldonado’s JDef Peace Project.

Delilah Salgado, Pablo Serrano, and Latinos Pregresando’s “Americanos” mural on 1100 W. Cullerton Street.

“Losotros,” by Layqa Nuna Yawar, on 1037 W. Cullerton Street/2001 S. Carpenter Street.

A mural by Manuel Macías on 1451 West 18th Street.

The “Declaration of Immigration” mural by artist Salvador Jiménez-Flores with youth from the Yollocalli Arts Reach program. This mural was created to counter the increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric. Located on 1401 W. 18th Street.

Friends created this mural at 1430 W. 18th Street to honor slain journalist James Foley.

The “Reach for Peace” mural, 1544 W. 18th Street, by students at Yollocalli Arts Reach.