One other Konigsburg novel is set primarily in Old Town and the neighboring Clarion State University community, Silent to the Bone (2000); so is some backstory in The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (2007).

The uncles have remained through Old Town's decline and recent gentrification, but the new home owning gentry have petitioned to have the towers demolished.

Peter who knew the towers as masterpieces of outsider art mustered academic opinions in support.

Margaret's triumph was bittersweet: she anticipated sharing it with her returning parents but saw that their love had ended and her family would soon break up.

The three siblings immigrated from Hungary during the 1930s or earlier, and purchased 19 Schuyler Place (company housing) from the glass works when it moved out of the city.

They operated "Jewels Bi-Rose" when downtown business was good, dealing in crystal, ceramic, jewelry, and timepieces.

Morris is an expert at timepiece repair, which has dwindled, and the brothers have been reduced to a small booth selling digital watches at the mall.

(Margaret's grown-up allies Jake, Peter, and Loretta are secondary characters in The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (2007).