The town of Halden’s Mill is based on the tiny Missouri town in which I grew up. The town park was much as I describe in the book, complete with the Air Force jet that we climbed on as kids. The jet is long gone, deemed much too dangerous for our modern tastes. Maggie’s coffee shop (I can’t remember what it was really called) came and went many years after I left. However, the owner of that little shop had much the same attitude as Maggie; it was open when she felt like opening and closed otherwise. At least that was how it seemed when I would visit. The Amish horse and buggy is a common sight and the Amish store that Maggie uses as part of her directions to Tobias’s house is there as well. Those who are familiar with my family will probably recognize Brianna’s house.

The Finn Family Farm is also quite similar to the farm on which I spent many of my childhood years. The pond and woods behind it are still there, as is the ancient oak tree where Liza finds some comfort after learning of her friend’s death. The house itself is different but most everything else about the farm I wrote as a familiar place that I cherish to this day.

Small towns are funny. The one I grew up in provided a perfect childhood that I still look back on happily. Then puberty set in and I hated the place and all the limits that came with it. The military gave me the escape I needed to see the world and live the life I thought I wanted. Now, having reached middle age, I think I’m ready to return to the small town. Of course, nothing can ever match childhood memories nor is the grass always greener on the other side (OK, in this case the grass in Missouri is pretty much always greener than in Southern California).

Such is life.

Tom