Beyond the Book: Background information when reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Beyond the Book

This article relates to The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Mitch Albom had published a handful of books before he hit paydirt with Tuesdays With Morrie in 1997 which, surprisingly, far outsold Morrie Schwartz's own book, Morrie: In His Own Words which had been published earlier.

Albom says that the lead character in The Five People... was inspired by his uncle, Edward Beitchman, who was also a World War II veteran, who also died at 83, and also lived a life like that of the fictional character, rarely leaving his home city, and often feeling that he didn't accomplish what he should have.

Filed under

This article relates to The Five People You Meet In Heaven. It first ran in the March 2, 2006 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.