Charlie McDowell knows how to wear pastel, effortlessly. He also knows how to eavesdrop which is how he came upon this new skill. But most importantly, the young author knows how to write.

Mr. McDowell will read from his new book Dear Girls Above me, a roman à clef about how thinking like a couple of girls turned a single guy into a better man, at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven on July 7 at 7 p.m.

The book began as a Twitter feed with Mr. McDowell sending out to the world the babblings of his twenty-something female neighbors in 140-character missives. The chatter seemed inane and mostly just amused him. Then his own girlfriend dumped him and Mr. McDowell had an empathetic encounter with himself. What if the girls upstairs were actually giving him pearls of wisdom or at least a way to get back on the dating track? Cue his pastel period — and a book deal.

To find out the full story, visit the Bunch of Grapes on Sunday. Just be careful what you say. Mr. McDowell will be listening.