Do you ever look at your family and think, “Wow, I have to write a novel about this?” Story time: My dad—the architect-poet-sailor—once sailed a tiny boat from the Bieszczady Mountains in southeastern Poland, navigating rivers all the way to the Baltic Sea. Halfway through, while lowering the boat over a small waterfall, disaster struck. The boat slipped too fast, and to keep it from vanishing downstream, my dad gripped the ropes—only for them to slice deep into both his hands. 1/2