by Clinch, Jon
Reading and rereading the first-person accounts of Wiesel and Frankl and Nyiszli over a period of a year or two, I had no plan to write a book. But along the way I discovered something within myself that disturbed me to no end: the more closely I studied the raw materials, the more repellent they became and the more difficulty I had in maintaining my focus on them. It was as if the facts themselves, horrible and numberless as they were, were conspiring to drive me away again and again, preventing me from connecting with the people behind them as fully as I needed to.
Supposing that other readers might face the same difficulty, and intent on the preservation of these voices and these stories, I wondered if fiction might provide an answer. I hope that it has, at least a little, by way of this book.
As always, I owe a great debt to my first readers, Wendy and Emily and David and Robbie, whose guidance and patience and support are so terribly important to me. Thanks are due as well to my far-flung internet correspondents—Amy, Danielle, Elizabeth, Jessica, Karen, Keith, Lauren, Renee, Sachin, and Tasha—who have provided me with so much wise counsel and so much encouragement for so very long. And last, I mustn’t sign off without a tip of the hat to Sam Winston, who went on ahead.
Jon Clinch — The Green Mountains, 2012
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Jon Clinch is on the web:
Web site: jonclinch.com
Twitter: @jonclinch
Facebook: facebook.com/JonClinchBooks
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Visit jonclinch.com to download a Reading Group Guide.
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Also by Jon Clinch:
Finn
Kings of the Earth
What Came After (writing as Sam Winston)
Table of Contents
Title Page
Book One
Book Two
Notes and Acknowledgments
