April Henry is the author of many acclaimed mysteries for adults and young adults. Her novel Face of Betrayal, which she co-wrote with Lis Wiehl, was a New York Times bestseller. She lives in Oregon.
April says, “Girl, Stolen was inspired by a story I saw on the local news. A blind girl had gone out to dinner with her parents. They wanted to do some Christmas shopping, and the girl stayed behind. Just like in Girl, Stolen, the mom left the keys in the car and someone stole it. In real life the girl was in the car for only a couple of miles. When she let the driver know she was there, he let her out. I watched her story that night and immediately thought, ‘What if?’
“I read a lot of autobiographies by people who were born blind or went blind, and I interviewed people who were blind, including a girl who was mainstreamed at a high school. I also talked to an eye doctor about head injuries and blindness. And I went to a Guide Dog School for the Blind and spent a day there. Toward the end, they put a blindfold on me and then gave me a dog and a harness and told me to put the latter on the former. That was difficult because I had never seen a harness up close and you have to pull on them to get them to fit snugly. I was worried I might hurt the dog, but I finally got it on. I was very proud of myself — until I tried to pat the dog on the head and realized I had harnessed up the back end!”
Visit April online at www.aprilhenrymysteries.com