• Why I Wrote This Book
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Why I Wrote This Book

These eight stories were inspired by my reading Oscar Wilde's De Profundis and wishing
that his wife Constance (before her death following surgery) had written a similarly long letter, offering her version of the disaster that destroyed their family. In fact, such a letter would be credible; it was not unusual for 19th century women, facing childbirth or a possibly fatal medical crisis, to write a letter to their prospective survivors—usually their children.

So I wrote a letter about the Oscar Wilde mess in what I hoped might pass for Constance Wilde's voice, writing to their two sons.

Then I thought of other people in our recent history—little known, misunderstood, or forgotten villains, victims, frauds, heroes—who, near death and having no reason to cover the truth, might feel free, or even compelled, to write a long letter to a special person: explaining, apologizing, justifying, damning, or correcting the general view of his or her role in a briefly famous era or event.

I came up with a total of eight historic figures. As the introduction explains, you can download and read any or all of these stories in any order.

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Free Downloads: The Letters

Contents and Introduction

1. Keeping Vows: Cornelia Connelly (1809-1879)

2. Collateral Damage: Constance Lord Holland Wilde (1858-1898)

3. Unhappy Endings: George Gissing (1857-1903)

4. Deserted: Eddie Slovik (1920-1945)

5. The Scapegoat: Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990)

6. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Fay Stender (1932-1980)

7. Betrayal: Dan White (1946-1985)

8. Beware of False Prophets: Ricky Rodriguez (1975-2005)

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