“The 1908 Metz, Michigan, fire is an historical fact. Devil in the North Woods accurately traces its beginnings, progress, and devastating results. Newspaper accounts and documented interviews record the names and actions of those who survived, as well as of those who did not, and form the basis for much of the history in this book. Henry Hardies was a real person who survived the fire and whose family anchors this story.

“Other characters in this book are either composites of real people or have been created solely for fictional purposes. The majority of the conversations, details, emotions, and motivations have been fictionalized, although much has been drawn from 90 years of hand-me-down Hardies family stories.”

I think that kind of explanation should be part of the unwritten contract between writer and reader in such cases.