Actor, director and writer Ed Burns has had a lot of success under his belt, but his latest project has him more excited than ever.

“I can’t wait,” he tells PEOPLE about his new novel. “I’m more excited about this book coming out than I am about a movie. Maybe even more so.”

That anticipation, says the first-time author, stems from the personal nature of the project. While the book is fiction, it draws heavily on Burns’ own family background.

Burns’ novel, A child from Marlboro Roadis a story born out of the kind of family stories that are told so often that no one remembers what is true and what is not. It is about a 12-year-old narrator who is at the wake of his beloved grandfather and looks around the crowded room, not yet realizing how much his family and community influence who he is or who he will become.

“There’s freedom in fiction,” says Burns. “The book allows me to really look inside this kid’s head in a way that a movie just can’t. And you don’t have to worry about budget, either.”

The book’s synopsis states: “Past and present intermingle as family stories are told over and over again. The narrative vacillates between the previous generation’s colorful sojourns in the Bronx and Hell’s Kitchen and the gentler world of Gibson, the Long Island town where they now live.”

Burns first rose to fame with his indie film The McMullen brothers and later played in Saving Private Ryan, The holidays And The man on the ledge and direction She is the one And Alex Crossamong others. This book began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he called his mother in Florida every day and listened to her stories about growing up in New York.

These stories provided material for the book, but they also gave a rare glimpse into his mother’s life before marriage, the children, and everything that came after. Of course, “the best thing about a novel is that you can rewrite it a little,” the author adds. “You can embellish it.”

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For Burns, who grew up in Queens and has two children, Grace, 21, and Finn, 18, with former model Christy Turlington, 55, writing the book is like cementing a legacy for his family. Although the book is fiction, many of the people and places featured in it echo reality. Because of this, Burns didn’t have to do much research other than digging into his brain – and that of his mother – for the source material.

“When you write these stories, it feels like you’re creating something like a family story,” Burns explains. And for anyone who grew up in a family with a long shadow, this story will ring true. Or, as the publisher puts it: “From one boy’s story emerges a collective warmth, a certain kind of American narrative, loud and joyful.”

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A child from Marlboro Road by Ed Burns is now available wherever books are sold.