Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook

For a number of years Charles and Marie Bender shared a house (pictured) with one of Charles’ sisters, Emma, and Emma’s daughter from a marriage that ended in divorce. Emma’s ex-husband later remarried and had a son. Last week, I learned that those two offspring, the half sister and brother — people who had lost touch with one another in the early 1990s — became reacquainted because of me.

Well, of course, I won’t try to pass myself off as some great uniter. During my research I tracked them down for obvious reasons and before I did I was wholly unaware they didn’t know how to locate one another (or that they might wish to). Finding the sister took some work; finding the brother was relatively easy. In fact, he and I kept in touch periodically during my research. Last week, he contacted me for the first time since publication. I had sent a card in the spring, but he had retired to another state before it arrived.

I am glad he learned of the book from another source. And I am especially pleased he dropped me a line to say so. Because he also explained that because I had contacted his sister those years before the two of them connected for the first time in about fourteen years. She called him on the phone and soon after he made an interstate drive so they could reunite (she is aging and in poor health). They have kept in touch since. He even arranged to have me send her a personalized copy.

Heartening to know the book had such an unintended consequence.

This post was added on Friday, August 08, 2008 by Tom Swift at 13:28 and is filed under Albert, Swift Boat.