A Bildungsroman Novel & Other Inspiring Tales

633 Days Inside, To Kill A Mockingbird, and More

I wrote a list of books about finding justice at Shepherd.com, an excellent site for tracking down books of your particular interest. The one that I read first in my life was one whose movie heavily influenced me as a child.

The only movie I recall my entire family seeing together in a theater was To Kill A Mockingbird, about a Black man falsely accused of attacking a white girl in a small Southern town in the 1930s. (Spoiler, she’s actually abused by her crazy father.)

Here’s a link to what I and others said about the novel’s influence on our lives.

To Kill A Mockingbird is in the bildungsroman genre, According to Brittanica, that is a: “class of novel that depicts and explores the manner in which the protagonist develops morally and psychologically. The German word Bildungsroman means “novel of education” or “novel of formation.”

The book I’ve been writing about, 633 Days Inside: Lessons On Life and Leadership, is bildungsroman in theme, though it’s not a novel. It’s a true story about a man wrongfully incarcerated who had the financial resources to fight it and win unanimously on appeal.

If you remember the movie To Kill A Mockingbird, which many people have seen whether they’ve read the novel or not, you know how inspiring a story can be to people who find themselves in similar circumstances. In the most crucial courtroom scene of the film, protagonist Atticus Finch proves that his client, Tom Robinson, is innocent. Yet the prejudiced jury convicts Tom, anyway.

The fight for justice is ever ongoing, perhaps more so these days than any time in recent memory.

That’s why I’m honored to help Greg Lindberg and organizations he supports in an ongoing effort to make justice more equitable and affordable to anyone. And with my own novels that I will write going forward, I’ll probably be writing in the bildungsroman genre more than I ever realized when I became an author.

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Brock Peters as Tom Robinson

I have a poster like the one above on my office wall, signed by the screenwriter, Horton Foote. Next to it is a handwritten letter sent to me by author Harper Lee. They keep me inspired as I do my work.

Greg Lindberg’s ebook of 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life & Leadership can be found on Amazon, GooglePlay, Apple Books and many other major outlets. The paperback is also available at Barnes & Noble and, via IngramSpark, around the world. Through his website www.greglindberg.com, he shares his stories of the fight for justice. Even more to the point, Lindberg’s company, Global Growth, has a stated policy of not turning away potential employees because of a criminal conviction.