My daughter received the Ancestry DNA pack for Christmas. I’ve never researched that far back. Instead, I’ve found some very interesting things about my own parents while researching my early childhood for my newest book, The Man In Number 7.
You see, I don’t have very many memories of my early childhood. Glimpses and moments. Just random fragments, really. I remember my stepfather Glenn. I remember he wasn’t very nice to me and my mom. But I don’t remember what he really put us through.
I grew up with my mom telling me how he was such a bad alcoholic. She was only 17 years old when she married him. I was a baby. All my life I heard her stories of how she had intended to kill him. She was going to stab him to death. But she didn’t, because she didn’t know who would take care of me while she was in prison. He pushed her that far. I was six years old when she was finally able to leave him. And he was still alive. We moved into apartment 6 of an old apartment building in Boise on the corner of 5th and Myrtle streets. I got to know everyone in the building, except for the strange man in Number 7.
These are the events of my life that prompted me to write this book. Glenn worked at the Ranch House Casino and Hotel in Nevada. And that’s where my story begins.
I suppose if we all thought about it, or dug deep enough into our family’s lives, we’d find a spare room full of secrets. But will you share them with the world? I am. I’ve taken the true events and people from my childhood, and weaved them into my latest book. I hope you’ll find it fascinating!