COMMUNITY
or even slightly scandalous back in the mid-1940 ’ s , but they are much more commonplace today . In the interest of privacy , I could have left those instances out , but I felt that it would have diluted the full story of my father ’ s long and winding quest to find the right girl and God ’ s role in leading him in the right direction . Most of my readers agree with my choice and many have thanked me for sharing the details as their fathers or mothers who lived through the war did not share their stories with them .
5 . Do you have plans for a future book ?
Yes . I have one more book ready for publication – a legal thriller based on a true fraternity hazing story , called The Initiation . However , my efforts to land a publishing deal with a major publishing house for that book have been unsuccessful so far . I have two other books under development , but they are not ready to be revealed at this time .
David Schaeffer is of counsel to Chilivis Grubman , living on Kiawah Island and the only regular climbing he is doing is out of sand traps ! Copyright Mercer University Press 2024 – Portions reprinted with permission from Mercer University Press . until after she died . All other relatives in their generation and the friend in Washington , DC , had already passed on , so I had no one with first-hand information to interview . But the letters confirm what I already knew , i . e ., that my parents , despite a very short courtship and being almost strangers when they got engaged , truly loved and trusted each other from the very start . The book is a tribute to the example they set for our family and the wider communities in which they lived , as well as to the “ greatest generation ” in general .
4 . What is the balance between respecting privacy and telling the full story when crafting a book like this ?
I debated with myself and my daughter , who majored in creative writing at Vanderbilt , about whether to craft this book as a non-fiction historical romance or a fictional novel based on a true story . I chose nonfiction . The actual letters drive the story forward and I did not feel comfortable in making up facts or filling in missing details with potentially inaccurate information . There are some instances described in the book which may have been deemed unconventional
22 January / February 2024