It's always nice when a reader picks up on what the
author is striving to convey. A comment left on my last blog post really hit
home with me, and brought up some interesting questions. For that reason, I’m
re-posting those comments along with my response so readers can find them more
readily.
“I have read your book and am completely
bowled over by it! I think we all fell in love with Sergei the first time
round, when "Forgive Me, Natasha" came out, then I fell in love with
him all over again when I read your book. I watched the Caroline Walker
documentary, and was appalled by how poorly researched it was - anyone could
see that the childhood friends of Sergei were not telling the truth, and, more
significantly, neither was L Joe Bass. Sergei was a real, genuine, loving and
lovable person, but I think he was exploited by the evangelical church, who saw
the potential to make money out of his story. When I googled L Joe Bass, I
found compromising stories, lawsuits, misappropriation of monies entrusted to
him and the church. Why did Caroline Walker, in the interests of fairness, not
investigate him as well? Or perhaps she, as an evangelical Christian, could not
bear to accept her faith in the established church was a sham?
I loved the book, particularly your journey
to independence, being able to buy a car, have your own apartment and career,
and find that as a social history, to be very valuable. I admire you for that,
as well as for clearing Sergei's name. I think Sergei must have had deep
misgivings about the church, too, as he chose to confide in Mr. [Logie], rather
than the people at the Christian centre. Love the book!
—Posyzadok
Heartfelt thanks for your kind words, Posyzadok,
about my book, A Rose for Sergei. I’m
always glad to hear from readers! Writing this book was something I never
thought I’d do. After watching the documentary film Forgive Me, Sergei I felt it was important to stand up for Sergei
Kourdakov…even after keeping everything a secret for all these years. Thank you
for recognizing that fact.
I’ve heard from other readers concerning the
research for the film. My response is that it wasn’t completely researched. There is no question in my mind that additional
fact-finding would have changed the outcome of the film. The term “truth in
documentaries” has taken on a whole new meaning for me. We should all look at documentary
films skeptically—partial information can easily slant the work in any
direction. In Sergei’s case, I learned first-hand that the results can be damaging
if producers don’t cover the complete story.
Surprisingly, I didn’t know that L. Joe Bass had
been investigated for misappropriation of monies until another author brought
it to my attention a few months ago. I was shocked, but maybe not completely
surprised. I’ve heard more than once that “someone made a lot of money from
Sergei’s book.” I’m not sure why the producers didn’t investigate him further.
I do know that more in-depth research is being done
regarding Sergei Kourdakov’s life, but I’m not at liberty to say anything more
at this time. Will this new information be a game changer? When I have the
details, I’ll post them here on my blog.
