I recently read a book called Mördaren i folkhemmet by Lena Ebervall and Per E Samuelson. It is a true story about a man who was wrongly accused of three murders (and convicted for two of them). The book itself is an eye-opener regarding the justice system, but that is not what I wanted to talk about here. In the epilogue, the authors write (in loose translation):
When one writes about real events and real people, one often wishes that one could first write one book and then a second book on the same subject. Because, when the book is finished, after all the years of research and writing, and is finally published, it is only then that it reaches a wider audience - and it is then that all the really unusual and interesting small stories come to light...
There is a lot of truth in this. I recognize it in relation to The Space in Between. As more and more people read the book, I am treated to anecdotes - most of them historical, a few actually connected to the family - which, without changing the actual story, could have added their own small strokes of interest.
However, this is how life is, isn't it? It is impossible to include everything: the author can only hope to grab an instant in Time and then hand it on to others. In the end, all a book can hope to do is to stimulate thought in those who read it, and, if it manages to achieve such a thing then it has obviously done what it set out to do.