Hello, I'm Janet

October 11, 2026

Welcome! 

This newsletter is about my journey in nonfiction. Writing, researching, traveling, reading, sewing—all of it to learn about the past.

Origin Story

My love of stories and history started young. I wanted to be a fairy tale princess, which grew into a love of the Middle Ages. I also wanted to be a writer.

During an after-school French lesson in third grade, the teacher taught us a few expressions and about French culture. Then she served us pain au chocolat and Orangina.

I fell for France.

My first trip to France in high school changed my life (shout-out to the teachers who took us!).

As we pulled into Paris, I stared out the bus window, gobsmacked. I can’t believe we are staying in the old quarter of Paris, I thought. 

Oh, sweet, naive, teen Janet.

Every time I turned a corner on that visit, I felt awe. Each block brought wonder. Each meal delight. And then I stepped into Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, still one of my favorite places in the world.

I looked up at the immensely high vaulted ceiling and thought, They did this before they had toothbrushes. I spotted another place at the top of a huge pillar and thought, How many humans have touched that particular stone?

I wanted to know about it all. My goal became to travel and live in France. 

An American Nerd in France

I went abroad to France my junior year in college and met a wonderful French family who hired me to babysit. I didn’t speak French, and the children didn’t speak English, but we figured it out, and they had a pool where we became les sirènes (mermaids).

After college, I moved back to France to teach in public elementary schools and live with that family as their au pair.

Their house was in the mountains, with little public transportation, so I bought a cheap moped (or mobylette in French) I named Elphaba, and I wore a huge helmet, a bright pink coat, and a construction vest at night. My students recognized me zipping around. Clearly, I was the cool teacher.

After two years, I returned to the States, worked in children's book publishing, attended graduate school to study writing for children, and taught college-level English and Children's Literature courses. I then became a higher education administrator, writing and traveling to France whenever possible.

Finding Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

Throughout it all, I kept coming back to fairy tales. I studied them in high school, in college, during my M.F.A. in Writing Children’s Literature at Simmons University.

When Simmons didn't offer their fairy tale course, I created an independent study tracing seven fairy tales, their first English publications, and modern interpretations through a Feminist lens: Cinderella, Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, West of the Sun, East of the Moon, and The Little Mermaid.

All of these were collected, published, or written by men–except one.

“Beauty and the Beast” was edited and published by a French woman, Marie Leprince de Beaumont. When I started to research Marie’s life, oh boy, did it get messy and also intriguing. 

I have been researching and writing Marie’s biography for Young Adult readers for the past decade.

Marie lived an unbelievable life, but most people don’t know anything about her. Part of this is her fault. She covered up her wild youth to hide some skeletons. Big ones.

The newsletter plan.

Here, through monthly installments, I’m going to share what I learned on the journey.

I’ll tell stories from my research adventures, share weird and fascinating history I’ve soaked up, and reflect on the writing and querying process. I’ll think about fiction vs. nonfiction and share excellent nonfiction I’ve read.

I'll talk about fashion and architecture, trade and book printing, food and modes of transportation. Theater, ballet, opera. Books and magazines. Wigs. And also, why no one wore underwear.

So, join me on this delicious, bizarre, tragic, and always true adventure in nonfiction.

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Until next time,
Janet

P.S. I'm Dyslexic, so try as I might, there may be typos. Thanks for rolling with it. I'll also take a sweet message flagging it.