Gretchen Berg grew up in the US Midwest and now lives in Chicago. She has always been curious about history and families, and has a personal family tree of over 16,000 people. Her family research started with her own grandmother's little brown notebook full of details, and it was the story of her grandmother - herself a switchboard operator in Wooster, Ohio, in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s - that inspired THE OPERATOR.