While my fictitious Dr. Franks was bringing people back to life in the spring of 1952, Dr. Watson and Dr. Crick were doing their darnedest to determine the chemical structure of DNA. Since they knew the basic building blocks, they had scale models made—the “silly children’s toys” that Dr. Franks speaks of—so they could try to construct it like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The overall structure eluded them until one day in late February of 1953, when Dr. Watson noticed that if you matched adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine, the resulting pairs had the same shape. These pairs became the rungs that ran between the twisting rails of DNA’s ladder-like structure, and with this riddle solved, they were able to complete their work in a matter of days.
You’ll notice that I included Linus Pauling in the list above. He is the only historical figure to make an appearance in the book. Dr. Pauling studied chemistry at the California Institute of Technology from 1922 to 1925. Upon receiving his doctorate, he served there in multiple capacities, including as director of the Gates and Crellin Laboratories of Chemistry, from 1925 to 1958. Thus, while Ingolstadt Laboratories is a fictitious institution (which I named after the university that Victor Frankenstein attended in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein), I set the book in California precisely because of Dr. Pauling, as his were the only laboratories in North America that were competing with the research that was happening in Europe.
Like Ingolstadt Laboratories, the city of St. Jude is also fictitious. I didn’t want to saddle an actual community with the moral highs and lows represented in the book. That said, Orange County is an actual location, and in the spring of 1952, it was mostly agricultural (though by the end of that decade, it had been taken over by suburbia, not to mention Disneyland).
Last but certainly not least, I should say something about Robby. I made a point of placing him in Company E of the 28th Marines, and specifically the small patrol assigned to take the summit of Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on Iwo Jima. I based Robby’s experience on Richard Wheeler’s eyewitness account, but Robby’s actions were his own and in no way indicative of the way American Marines treated Japanese soldiers. Also, while I had to piece together a lot of Takuma’s experience, I believe it is representative of the Japanese battle plan in general and Takuma’s character in particular.
Acknowledgments
I don’t know how you thank the people who’ve helped you achieve your lifelong dream, but since that’s kind of the point, I’ll do the best I can.
First, thank you to Kate Testerman, who not only plucked this story out of the slush but cared enough about this writer to establish a relationship long before that. I appreciate your tenacity as well as your optimism. I wouldn’t have made it very far without either one.
Second, thank you to Shauna Rossano, who has championed this story from the start. Every writer should have an editor as exacting and encouraging as you. Also, thanks to everyone at Putnam, especially Jennifer Besser, and to Rose Wong for the beautiful cover.
My writing in general and this story in particular have benefited greatly from the expertise of fellow writers Amy Sonnichsen, Ben Spendlove, Jenilyn Collings, Kelly Kennedy Bryson, Liesl Shurtliff, Mónica Bustamante Wagner, Myrna Foster, and Tara Dairman. You push when I need pushing and soothe when I need soothing, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t be here without you.
I also have to thank my parents, who never made me feel strange for wanting to stay in and write. I don’t think books would be as important to me if they hadn’t been important to you first. Also, thanks to Russell Walker, who helped with the Japanese. Anything I did right is your doing, and anything I did wrong is my fault.
Last but certainly not least, thank you to Chris, who lets me fret about my writing without fretting himself, and to Isaac, Madeleine, and William, who take me on grand adventures (and go on grand adventures by themselves when I need to get some writing done). You put up with the drama and get nothing in return, but none of it would matter if I didn’t have you.
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