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KIRKUS REVIEWS

Reader Comments

  • A “genealogical detective story … The book follows a rigorous investigation through the narrows of history that comes to a beautifully anticlimactic conclusion. This work is ultimately a celebration of the lives we all lead, remarkable despite their insignificance, made valuable and lasting by those we choose to touch with compassion."

    — Kirkus Reviews

  • This exquisite little volume is actually two literary works in one - a suspenseful detective story reaching back 80 years to track down a young boy who briefly crossed paths with a 21-year-old Navy ensign returning from World War II, and a moving love letter from the author to his dad on the occasion of the elder’s 100th birthday. The father, Ford Worthy Jr., had long wondered what happened to the young Chester he encountered as a Navy officer in 1945, and his son Ford S. Worthy undertakes a months-long search through genealogical records, census documents, yellowed obituary clippings and personal interviews to track down Chester. A compelling tale, handsomely crafted, that yields satisfaction for the father, the son and us, the readers.

    — Ted Vaden (Amazon Review)

  • How many of us have family mysteries we'd love to solve? And how many of us persistently and patiently do the asking, the digging, and the legwork to solve them? Ford Worthy has and gave his dad the gift of a lifetime, not only the answer to what happened to Chester, but the gift of honoring his dad's extraordinary character. It's a gift, too, to every reader who cherishes family history as well as America's.

    — Beth Goehring

  • This is a charming story filled with love and respect—a father’s search for the young man he accompanied on a cross-country trip at the end of WWII and a son’s devoted efforts to help his father reconnect with him years later. In these unsettled times, it’s a reminder we could all use of how lasting and healing true kindness can be.

    — Alice Shepherd Glover (Amazon Review)

  • Such a remarkable and heartwarming story ... and a moving gift from a son to his father. It's also an uplifting message during a time when we need to be reminded that people in this world still care about one another.

    — idw (Amazon Review)

  • Newspaper editors have always exhorted reporters to get out into the real world because “there are no stories in the newsroom.” True enough, but Ford Worthy’s IN SEARCH OF A BOY NAMED CHESTER provides a case study of how, in the digital age, you can achieve world-class sleuthing with just a computer and an internet connection. Worthy takes us along for the ride as he leverages Facebook, online census data, digitized newspaper archives and much more to hunt down someone who crisscrossed paths with his father shortly after the end of World War II and who may — or may not — be named Chester Park. And then there’s a bonus: The search is intertwined with the story of a special father-son relationship.

    — David Ranii (Amazon Review)

  • My former Fortune colleague Ford Worthy has written a deeply moving narrative that's one of the most creative and heartfelt gifts to a father imaginable: Ford put his still-formidable journalistic skills to work, performing bravura detective work to find the identity of a small boy whom his father briefly befriended as a Navy officer returning home at the close of World War II. Most of all, Ford evokes an era of patriotic small town parades, of an America where generosity to strangers was the norm, and provides a study in postwar sociology, from the most popular names of the era to the the shifts from hamlets to cities that redrew the map of America. It reads like a fast-moving real life thriller where getting to the mystery requires a collaboration with his father that's a gift in itself. "In Search of..." will endure as a monument to the father the author and my great friend so loved and admired.

    — Shawn Tully (Amazon Review)

  • A father’s faint but enduring memory and a son’s determination to piece it together, this is part mystery, part family history, and all heart. In Search of a Boy Named Chester reads like a real-life "whowasit" detective story that spans eight decades and ends up being as much about love, memory, and storytelling as it is about solving the mystery itself. An inspiring read and a remarkable gift from a son to his father in celebration of a century of life well lived.

    — John J. Hashimoto (Amazon Review)

  • Such a heartfelt journey—a story that I could not stop reading—each page drew me to the next. Ford is a wonderful and moving storyteller, and his work is both heartfelt and unforgettable.

    — Christine Cotton

  • I just finished "In Search of a Boy Named Chester" today. I first got acquainted through the N&O story and bought a Kindle version after you sent out an email a couple of days ago. Thank you. Thanks for the smile, and thanks for the reminder of how important it is to stay connected. ... And I sent a copy to my mom. Onwards!

    — Name Withheld

  • Ford Worthy weaves a beautiful tale that skillfully explores decades-old scraps of memory combined with meticulous research to honor his father on his centennial birthday. A stylishly written labor of love!

    — Lou Richman

  • It is Ford’s ability to merge his superb journalistic skills with the southern tradition of storytelling, so deep in his roots, that brings to life this beautiful story.

    — Rhea F. Stein

  • Congratulations for finishing this project and sharing it with the world. My Dad was a Marine in the Pacific and he too sailed back to California. I wish he had lived long enough to have those weekly unrushed dinners you got with your father. Sadly his memory went years before his death, and I was still dealing with young kids, a busy job and a second marriage while trying to be a good daughter. So I will have to enjoy your stories instead of his.

    — Susan Cranford Ross

  • Ford Worthy has given us a moving and intriguing story. Exhaustively researched and rich in detail, it is above all a testimony to the profound importance of human connection across time and space.

    — Thomas H. Hubert

  • A thoroughly intriguing and heartwarming story of a son's search for an answer to an event involving his father that has been lingering since the end of World War II. The investigative approach of his son is that of a true professional. Trying to uncover the mystery in time to celebrate his father's 100th birthday, the story weaves through numerous possibilities that would intimidate most, if not all of us. The 79 years that have elapsed are brought to real life and the story of Chester becomes clearer as each page captivates you to answer the decades old question; Who is Chester? This isn't just a son's tribute--it's a must read for those who seek a true-life story of a father's commitment to a stranger and her young son and the author's loving pledge to solve an age-old mystery.

    — Douglas Ostanek (Amazon Review)

  • A well-researched, amazingly presented, wonderful story about a veteran of WWII.

    — Isabella Chan

  • This is a remarkable All-American story! I applaud Ford Worthy for paying attention and having the interest and energy to pursue this mystery and true life story to its conclusion. His doing so is another whole story. My applause!

    — Charles Coble

  • Love isn't something you can touch – but without question your father knew what it looked like and felt like as the two of you worked together to find answers. A gift that cannot be measured! Also have to say that your father's Portable Memory was the most brilliant idea! I immediately got a notebook to put in my purse to follow his example. Although I will be 82 in a couple of months and my memory is still serving me well enough, I love the idea of making the kinds of notes he did and wish I had done that long ago. So needless to say, I gathered a great deal from your adventure and thank you for sharing it. Grateful for your never-give-up effort.

    — Mary Jo Sell

  • Great story, well told. A tribute to the one-of-a-kind Ford Worthy.

    — Rick Rountree

  • Fascinating detective work and wonderful storytelling!

    — Carter Worthy

  • This story was amazing! It was more than a birthday gift from son to father, it was a son expressing his love for his father and his fathers amazing story! I am so glad I was given the chance to be apart of this family through the journey to provide the perfect gift for someone's 100th year on earth.

    — Dustin (Goodreads Review)

  • Downloaded the book in Va Beach this morning and listened to you read while returning home this morning. Wonderfully told. You [and your sisters] were richly blessed to have your dad vibrant with such a strong memory for all of his many days. Loved the sharing of your time together. I slowed down a lot through New Bern when Chester came to draw his blood in the ICU. I could write way more because it really touched me but I'll just say you really did him proud.

    — Name Withheld

  • Great sleuthing. I noticed your Omaha, Nebraska research didn't get into Council Bluffs, Iowa, though the Omaha airport is right on the state line, and would be the airport for a large area of Iowa also. As it happens, your search in Nebraska was successful, and maybe you did look at Iowa also and didn't mention that. … Speaking for myself, your book is not only about a search for some unknown person, but also appeals because, in these times, people yearn for connection, without some polarizing issue (red something vs. blue something, streetcars vs. buses or cars) or just representing one silo.

    — Jeff Adams

  • I was initially hard pressed to see how the premise would appeal to me. I was drawn in to the real story, which is a labor of love from a son to his father that draws on their shared passion and skill for detail and connection. I highly recommend.

    — Todd (Goodreads Review)

  • Phenomenal detective story trying to find out the life story of a boy the author’s Father helped 80 years ago. You can tell the author is a professional because of the writing and the investigation he did. Excellent story about love and family especially in today’s environment.

    — Seatow (Amazon Review)

  • This book is part sleuth story and part memoir, set against a backdrop that highlights what will always be America's "Greatest Generation." It's a son's poignant tribute to an amazing father. Every chapter is to be savored, and the only regret it left me with is wishing I had done something like this for my father before his passing. Bravo Mr. Worthy.

    — Adam B. (Amazon Review)

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If you know of a group in North Carolina that might enjoy hosting a talk about the book, you can use the same form to submit your suggestions. In recent weeks, the author has spoken at The Forest at Duke in Durham, Galloway Ridge in Pittsboro, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, and the Carolina Country Club in Raleigh — among other places — and is currently scheduled to give talks in Cary, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, Chocowinity and Greenville.

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