In 1978, on a beach in Sea Isle City, NJ, I fell in love with books. I was eleven. I always had a paperback in my hand —Haley, Michener, Follett, Ludlum, Clavell, Hinton, and so many others. Those books sent me on some damn fine adventures, and I'm ever grateful to them for giving me the escape hatch I desperately needed back then.
I am often asked why it took so long. "Why'd you wait until you were in your fifties to write your first novel?" I guess there's a lot of ways I could answer that but they all boil down to this—I just wasn't ready. And I have no regrets about it. I wear my late bloomer badge with pride.
I'm grateful for having found my voice. Even if it came late. As all the best things seem to do.
Thank you for being a reader. I hope you find the adventure you're looking for!
Andrew Bridgeman has nearly as many twists in his own story as there are in his novel. A former rugby player, jazz singer, salesman, and entrepreneur, he finds inspiration in the characters he’s crashed into along the way. Mr. Bridgeman studied creative writing at Dickinson College and earned his MBA from Washington University in Saint Louis. After decades in the St. Louis Area, he now lives in New Hampshire with his wife, Kathy. He enjoys hiking in the mountains near his home, playing guitar, and exploring the U.S. in an Airstream RV.
Fortunate Son is his debut novel.
