Dear Edward true story – who is Ruben van Assouw?

The series stars Connie Britton, Taylor Schilling and Colin O’Brien amongst others, but is it based on a book, and what was the real-life inspiration behind it?

Read on for everything you need to know about the inspiration for Dear Edward.

Is Dear Edward based on a book?

It is. Dear Edward is based on a 2020 novel of the same name by Ann Napolitano. Like the novel, the series tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who becomes the only survivor of a plane crash.

The novel received mostly positive reviews and the series was officially greenlit in February 2022, just over two years after the book was released.

Is Dear Edward based on a true story?

Neither the book Dear Edward nor the series is fully based on a specific true story, but the book's author Napolitano did take partial inspiration from the 2010 crash of Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771.

The flight was going from OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa to Tripoli International Airport in Libya, but crashed on approach to its destination runway.

It became major international news with an outpouring of grief and condolences following.

Who is Ruben van Assouw?

The crash of Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 in 2010 saw 103 of the 104 passengers on board killed, except for one survivor, called Ruben van Assouw.

Ruben was a 9-year-old Dutch boy from Tilburg, who was returning from a safari holiday with his parents, Trudy and Patrick, and his brother Enzo, all of whom were killed in the crash.

Ruben underwent a four-and-a-half-hour operation to repair fractures to his legs, and was subsequently picked up by his aunt and uncle, who later gained custody over him.

Author of the novel Dear Edward, Napolitano, said in a previous interview that it was Ruben's story that inspired the book, but in particular it was that so much of his life beyond the crash was unknown, meaning the book had to be fiction.

She said: "I think I couldn’t let go [of Ruben's story] because I was both deeply worried about Ruben and deeply curious about how he could go on after such a terrible tragedy.

"His aunt and uncle did an amazing job of protecting Ruben’s privacy once he was released from the hospital, but that meant I couldn’t know that he became OK.

"I had to create a set of circumstances under which a little boy in that situation could believably become a whole person, in spite of – or even because of – what he’d lost. I needed him to be OK, so I had to write my way into believing that was possible."

In the book, Edward is a 12-year-old American boy, who is the sole survivor of a plane crash, with the flight travelling between New Jersey and Los Angeles.

Dear Edward is streaming on Apple TV+ now – you can sign up to Apple TV+ here.

The original book Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano is also available to buy now.

Check out what else is on with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide, or visit our Comedy hub for more news and features.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast.