Back Story to the Bailie Beach Trilogy
June 8, 2026
Have you ever wondered what is real and what is fiction in the first book of this love story? Let me take you behind the scenes of the Bailie Beach Trilogy.”
The cover of all three books is shown here on the back cover of the final book in the trilogy, Sometimes Alone. This final book will be available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble later this month. Search by my name, Joseph Peter Krupski, to view all three books for purchase.
So, what prompted me to write this love story inspired by true events that actually took place in the summer of 1962? The unique set of events occurring that summer lent itself to being told. An experience I would have never imagined—this happening as complicated as it was. It would have a lasting effect on me the remainder of my life. I made several attempts to write the novel purely on the series of events, with the original plan to be just one book. But as life would have it, I wasn’t able to complete the task. You’ll eventually get the whole story in my autobiography that I’m writing now, titled Journey to My Last Penny.
All of the characters in the Bailie Beach book are based on real people. The only exception was the creation of the fictional main character, Tommy Celatka. Of course, the following two books in the trilogy were strictly fictional and subject to how the story could have unfolded in real life to some degree. Why the fictional character of Tommy? Simply put, I didn’t want the story to be about me but rather the love story itself.
Now truth be known, I did embellish and add fictional parts to the story to increase the drama and suspense. But the question can be raised, “What if?” if, in fact, everything did happen exactly as depicted in the three books. Could it have evolved the way I had written it? I believe that all aspects of the story based on actual events could have unfolded exactly the way it was written in this challenging love story.
Honesty must prevail. The one fact is, in the Bailie Beach novel, Joan did survive the final fate I gave her in the book. She broke off our relationship by Christmas of that year. It was over between us. Everything about her in the book was real, being a very sensual and loving person. Our relationship did become intimate but was embellished to a degree, producing the drama that it needed to convey their feelings of being deeply in love. It was necessary to show the physical and mental interaction between them that did exist. Looking back, I would say it was the strongest relationship I had experienced at that point in my life.
Let’s talk about the other female characters that the main character, Tommy, was involved with in the first book. Anna was the girlfriend from college, who is a possessive individual in real life. Her personality with a little help from this author made a perfect candidate for the villain. All the events Anna was involved with in the beginning of the story did take place, with the exception of the arm slashing the main character received.
Debbie in the beginning of the story was a passionate individual, and let’s just leave it at that. Her developing dark side was fictional and based on her personality that could’ve led to her predicament as spelled out in the story. She was the youngest, impetuous, and seeking the main character to accept her desire to be loved. She clearly expresses herself accurately in the video posted on my website.
Now there is Mary, who appears through all three books. Yes, Mary was exactly as she was depicted in the story. Her involvement with the main character was tenuous at first. The continued commitment by her and the main character was real in the beginning until she found out Tommy was seeing someone else. She did seek revenge for the betrayal she experienced by her attempt to solicit Joan’s participation. But it never manifested to any action by her in the end. She was as special to me as Joan was that summer, making it impossible to walk away from either one of them. The choice was too difficult to make; thereby, the story evolved as it did to a certain point.
Ah yes, Jeanette, the older woman by ten years in comparison to the main character. Everything about her in the story as to personality and the way she looked is accurate with one exception. The love affair between her and the main character was only a fantasy imagined at the time by the main character. This may be disappointing to some, finding that the intimacy was only imagined.
So, there you have it! Some of the facts behind the real story. It was easy to write because the story did happen with real people. But beware, I’ll not tell you every detail of what is true and what was embellished or fictionalized to make the story unfold as it did. That I’ll leave to your imagination.
I’ll continue later in another article to tell you how I became a writer, a journey that was long in the making. This author believes a story, whether nonfiction or fictional, should stimulate feelings in the reader, which may not always be what the reader expected to experience. The rainbow of feelings is out there for the author to inject into every story he or she may write. Until then, keep reading books and seeking the stories that make you feel emotions from within.