Goodreads asked Pearl A. Gardner:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Pearl A. Gardner My grandfather had an unusual middle name. The origin of the name is no mystery in the family. His mother, (my great grandmother), had an extramarital affair and got pregnant. The man she was married to agreed to take the child and raise him as his own, on the condition that the real father's name appeared on the baby's birth certificate.
His mother didn't want her son to have a different surname to his older brothers and sisters, so she included the real father's name as her son's middle name, much to the annoyance of her husband.
I know the story around my grandfather's conception would make a great novel, but the real mystery would be in finding who the real father was.
Perhaps I'll work on this one for a future book. What do you think?

flag