A FEW HOMES TRUTHS A.M. Homes has partied with David Bowie and talked babies with PHILIP Roth. Now New York's best-connected writer wants America to make some cool friends, too. Susan Dominus meets her.

I MEET A.M. HOMES AT ST AMBROEUS, AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT in the leafy West Village neighbourhood of New York, where she has lived for years. It's the kind of place where you can run into Sarah Jessica Parker at the local playground or catch sight of Julia Roberts's husband on his bike. Before we sit down, Homes sees Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair's editor-in-chief, and they exchange a few words. For Homes, in loose black trousers and a black-and-white toile shirt, the caf is nothing more or less than a local canteen where everyone knows her. 'I like the cookies,' she says with a shrug. 'It's an ea...