Kristy Bassilakis asked Katherine Center:

I'm reading How to Walk Away and I was absolutely shocked when I got to the part about Cliff going to Mystic to restore the Charles W. Morgan! I work at Mystic Seaport Museum, so I have to ask, how did that end up in the book? Do you have a personal connection?

Katherine Center OH, my gosh! That's amazing!!! Even though we're in Texas, we've been to Mystic Seaport twice with our kids! My husband is a U.S. History teacher—and his area of specialty is maritime history. The first time we ever went to Mystic Seaport, we had both just finished reading In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, and the whole experience of being at the seaport just felt completely 3-D and fully immersive. We felt like we'd traveled in time—and I still remember that amazing day with the kids in a little sunshiney place in my heart. (It was Herman Mellville's birthday, by coincidence, and there was a giant birthday cake that our kids were pretty excited about!) The second time we visited, we got a great rec from a lady in the printing shop when we were looking for a place to get dinner: Abbott's in Noank! We ate lobster rolls and had obscene amounts of ice cream sitting out on the dock there—and my hubby bought me a t-shirt! So . . . all to say . . . we've only been twice, but that whole area really stays with me, and that's how Cliff wound up heading that direction!!!! :D

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