Goodreads asked Michael Mendoza:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Michael Mendoza I acquired letters written by the main character later in his life to his grown daughter. When she passed away in the early 1990s, she was 95 years old. I inherited all her things as well as her father's things. Among the stuff was his letters recounting his experience in the war. I also have a second letter later in his life relating his adventures after the war. He went to South America and work the railroads in Peru where he met his wife. I hope one day to write about that.

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