My Mother's Lover by David Dobbs The Atavist (e-book) A crucial paragraph in My Mother's Lover comes from a conversation David Dobbs had with a relative. In it she revealed the name of his mother's boyfriend - Norman Z-something - that the couple met in San Antonio when he was stationed there (as a flight surgeon), and that he ended up 'getting sent way out in the Pacific ... and got killed right near the end of the [second world] war'. Dobbs knew his mother wanted her ashes spread off Hawaii to be with her lover. Having missed the chance to ask her about 'such things' before she died, he wondered how much he could discover about someone 60 years dead. Lots, it turned out: he found the man's surname by searching genealogy sites and received a positive response from someone claiming to be Norman Zahrt's daughter. This tale is unusually moving, especially so written by the son of a woman who can say about her: 'She was chasing a man with two small children. And she was leaving her own three-year-old ...' Those affected by Dobbs' tale should read his eulogy for his mother on www.wired.com . Extras: none