My Mother's Lover (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

David Dobbs (Author), The Atavist (Editor)

Book Description

On her deathbed, David Dobbs's mother Evelyn Jane revealed a secret she'd kept for 60 years about the man she had truly loved, and lost. His name was Norman "Angus" Zahrt, a married World War II flight surgeon with whom she'd engaged in a secret love affair, just before he deployed to the Pacific and disappeared. Intrigued by his mother's hidden longing, Dobbs embarked on a reporter's quest to uncover Zahrt's fate, and that of his family. The story he returned with is an extraordinary tale of love, war, and how we confront the lost chances in our lives.

David Dobbs writes features and essays for publications including the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Wired, the Guardian. Several of his stories have been chosen for leading science anthologies; most recently, his much-discussed feature for the Atlantic, "The Orchid Children," for Ecco/HarperPerennial's Best American Science Writing 2010. He is now writing his fourth book, The Orchid and the Dandelion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), which explores the genetics of temperament—and the idea that the genes underlying some of our most troublesome traits and behaviors also generate some of our greatest strengths and accomplishments.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Dobbs, a science, culture, and nature writer, learns of his mother’s deeply harbored feelings when she utters the name “Angus” on her deathbed. The Kindle Single My Mother’s Lover tells of Dobbs’s pursuit to learn the full story of his mother's passionate and haunting affair five decades in the past. Tragically, Angus’s life, and her one indulgence in true love, were cut short in a World War II plane crash. The loss for Dobbs’s mother echoed sorrow for decades as she moved on with ersatz lovers and spouses and only in the end decided to own, or at least expose, her wounds and misgivings. The story, which touches multiple families, offers an explanation for how “everyone ended up married to somebody they wished was somebody else.” In uncovering and unraveling his family’s secrets, Dobbs draws out a heartrending narrative arc without sentimentality. His capable writing renders the deep ironies of his family secrets tangible and captivating. --Paul Diamond

Product Details

• File Size: 223 KB
• Print Length: 35 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: The Atavist (June 5, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0054LMZR6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,671 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #22 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Memoirs

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 147 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Survivor of the unfound, a love story June 9, 2011

By Rett01 TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

For as long as her son could remember, his mother wore a gold locket around her neck. "When I was a boy, I liked to pull it up from inside her blouse on its chain, tugging it up from between her breasts so I could squeeze the curved button that ran along one edge," David Dobbs recalls. Open it up and the locket contained a picture of her grandmother and grandfather.

After his mother's death, her children discovered another picture behind the first, a snapshot of a smiling, handsome World War II soldier. The photo turned out to be of a man her mother had referred to from time to time as Angus. It was the name she uttered on her deathbed when she said she wanted to be cremated and have her ashes spread on the Pacific, so that she could again be with her Angus.

Evelyn Jane Hawkins Preston Dobbs is described by her son David as a "survivor of the unfound." A successful physician in Houston, the mother of six, Evelyn raised a family, was a dutiful wife and mother and was possessed of a "fearsomely strong" character.

Sixty years before she had also carried on a secret wartime love affair. Piece by piece, war record after war record and photo by photo, Dobbs reconstructs the World War II love affair between his mother and the flight surgeon whose real name was Norman Zahrt and who was shot down over the Pacific by the Japanese during the final days of the war. At the time of his death, he was married to someone else and the father of two children.

It's a soaring story of passion and forbearance as well as love and loss. It's also the story of two families and how they came to terms with the secret wartime romance they never knew about in which "everyone ended up married to somebody they wished was somebody else...."

Dobbs is a writer and he digs into the story and tracks down the facts with a reporter's flair for getting at the truth of the matter. His account of his mother's lost love is as deeply felt as it is dispassionate. Read more ›

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's a war. Everybody's crazy." June 9, 2011

By Annie B TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was for me a very powerful story. I felt it evoked the WWII era extremely well and plainly shows how people carried life-long scars from this time. It was so sad to me that this woman loved so deeply for so long. At the same time, I had to wonder if things had gone differently would she still have loved this man. Time and disappointment have a way of making the past look far better than present reality. This was a woman who was unlucky in love, so the man who never had the opportunity to disappoint her had to look very good. This brings up another question of whether her marriage failed because her husband couldn't live up to a ghost or would it have failed anyway? That's what's wonderful about his story. It caused me to think and question many things, not just about this particular story, but how it carries over into so many other stories.

This story is very well written--almost too well done. The author clearly keeps his distance even though the subject is his own mother, but does at the same time clearly shows how much he and his siblings loved her. I don't want to give too much away, but I found it heartbreaking that because of what his mother never knew, her deathbed wish was completely off the mark in terms of achieving her real wish. I keep asking myself how I would feel if I'd followed her wishes only to find out what her children after it had been done. The answer is I would feel just awful. Really, I find that the author went in search of knowledge of this man and the relationship that develops between his children and the author and his siblings just a bit creepy, though it was insightful to know how this relationship had directly impacted the man's children. For me, it would all just be too much to want to know.... Inquiring minds want to know, however, and all of it together makes a very interesting, heartfelt, even educational story. Who knew it could be so easy to find out so much about a person knowing only a first name, a first initial of a last name and the state they originally lived in? Who knew the letter Z would have such significance? I'm so glad that there are people who can do such amazing things with so little to go on!

I highly commend the author for telling this story. I don't think I could have written about it, but I'm glad the author did. There are likely to be literally thousands, if not millions, of stories like this one. WWII was a crazy time and people threw themselves into love unlike they'd never done before, tossing off conventions like mad. This is a story that is certain to resonate with Boomers, who wonder what secrets their parents have or may have carried from this era. Overall, great story. Read more ›

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Inspiration for WWII Family History Researchers June 9, 2011

By Sharon E. Sergeant

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Beautiful story with many levels.

I am a forensic genealogist. I can appreciate the research skill required to make this story possible.

It outlines the types of information that may be available to any WWII researcher as well as the wellspring of human interactions in wartime.

A great piece to inspire the many folks who know there is a WWII story in their own family.

I purchased this for the PC version of Kindle, but for the full multimedia experience you can purchase it from the publisher for an ipod/ipad/iphone.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true story, well written June 13, 2011

By MizLeta

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was a 35 page true story about a man's research into his mother's past. Before she passed away she asked to be cremated. His mother wanted her ashes put into the Pacific where her lover from over 50 years before went down in a plane during WWII. Thia led the author to research deeper into the past that dictated his mother's life. Haunting story that really reminds us that, "War is Hell". Not a mushy romance story. More of an insight into history and human nature.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars im speechless June 12, 2011

By jennydh4

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow! I find myself so sad and speechless after reading this book! I could not put it down!
I loved every bit of it because it is so real! Sometimes life (military) separates true loves and they go on with their lives realizing that maybe the should have fought harder to keep it together!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars selfish! October 1, 2012

By mary

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really did not like this book!the 2 main characters were so selfish and destroyed everybody around them to get what they want! the book left me feeling disappointed that I had wasted time reading it