I nearly wrote her out of the book. Bob's grandmother, Emma, known to her family as Grandma R, was a character whose reputation preceded her, and not in a good way. Family lore painted a clear picture: a stern, capable woman, but decidedly "not a very nice lady," as one adult grandchild recently put it. Her unappealing personality made her a footnote in my original plan. But as I continued my research, I stumbled onto a different story—one that existed just beneath the surface of the family's memory. The more I learned, the more I realized that Emma's story was anything but minor, and the complex, resilient, woman I was uncovering deserved an entire chapter.