Remembering France Under Occupation
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of France after four years of Nazi Occupation (from 1940-44).
There will be much attention paid to the events that brought about this liberation in the months to come–particularly during the months of June (in commemoration of D-Day) and August (the liberation of Paris and other parts of France).
I’m marking this anniversary in my own way by (finally) watching the incredibly engaging, often difficult-to-watch (but very worth watching) TV series, Un Village Francais.
The series is great preparation for my next class for Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington DC, which is designed to give participants a deeper sense of what those years were like for the French people, by reading and discussing three literary texts. The class is open to anyone: if you’re interested, here’s more information about it, and how you can register.
It was a truly international effort that brought about the liberation of France. In my next post I’ll be telling the story of one brave young Canadian pilot who played a heroic role in that struggle. Stay tuned!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Springtime in Essoyes 2024
We are experiencing the fullness of spring these days. After a very rainy few weeks that was a bit too much of a good thing for the vignerons, and caused the river to be so full that it threatened to flood the center of Essoyes, finally the sun has come out, which is brightening spirits–and at least so far the river has stayed within its banks, pshew!
After all that rain, a little bit of sun has brought about abundant growth. The colza has shot up seemingly overnight (though not really), from knee-length to now over my head, and the fruit trees are in full bloom. How beautiful it all is!
Earlier this week I had the distinct pleasure–and honor–of meeting with a book group in Washington DC, to take questions about my memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, through the wonders of Zoom. The Women’s Biography book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite indie bookstore in the US, had chosen my book for their April selection, and wanted to know if I would like to visit their meeting.
I was delighted to do so even though for me that meant getting up at 1:00 in the morning so I could be awake enough to be coherent when I joined them at a little after 7:30 pm their time (and 1:30 am mine!). (Not being a night owl at all there was no way I would have been able to stay awake that long before joining them.) I think they had enjoyed the book (pshew again!) and they asked me such interesting questions and made wonderful comments. They even gave me permission to share a picture of our Zoom meeting so that I could encourage other book groups to do the same.
It is always SO NICE for authors to be able to meet directly with the people who read their books. So if you are reading this post, and you are interested in women’s memoirs, and you belong to a book group who might like to read my book, and have me visit your meeting, please do so! I’d love to have such an opportunity, and I think I have now proved my sincerity and willingness to get up at any hour of the day to meet readers. 🙂
Mother’s Day is coming up soon in both the US and France–and I think the UK and Canada also? And I think A Long Way From Iowa–as a three-generations-of-women fulfilling-the-dream story–is appropriate Mother’s Day reading. I hope some of you will agree.
Until the next post, happy reading (whatever you are reading). And happy spring!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
An Interview with Kate Zirkle, Founder of the American Diary Project
I’m super pleased to be able to share the good news about this wonderful new archive with my readers. Please share this post with your friends, colleagues, family–let everyone know that at last there is a place dedicated to preserving diaries written by “ordinary” Americans. Hooray!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Demystifying the French: A Bicultural Conversation
I’m thrilled that my friend Edith de Belleville will join me online to discuss Franco-American cultural differences, thanks to the wonderful Federation of Alliances Françaises USA.
This is the fourth in their series of Zoom events on Demystifying the French; and I thought it was about time we hear from someone on the other side of the cultural divide. Don’t you agree?
And I can’t think of a better person than Edith to do it. Want to learn more? Click on this link.
It’s February 17, it’s free, and I feel quite sure it’s going to be a lively discussion. I hope you’ll join us!
PS If you missed the live program and would like to see it, you can view the recording here.
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
What Book Groups Are Saying About “A Long Way From Iowa”
Clockwise, starting at left: My sister, one of my first (and most enthusiastic) readers; my sister’s book group in Minneapolis; my friend Noble with her book group in Seattle; more enthusiastic readers outside the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore in Paris, at the book launch.
I’m thrilled that my new memoir, A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France has been selected for discussion by four different book groups. Two in Minnesota (one in Minneapolis, and one in Red Wing); one in Seattle; and one in Washington DC.
March 2023 Minneapolis The first book group to read and discuss A Long Way From Iowa was my sister’s group in my hometown of Minneapolis. And yay! (and pshew!) they liked it! They said the book made them think about their own mothers and grandmothers, and that “it started a discussion of mother-daughter relationships, and demonstrated the strength of ordinary women.”
October 2023 Seattle It was such a pleasure to visit this group! You know how some book groups don’t really talk about books, they mostly drink wine and eat food instead? Well this group does both! I was super impressed with the number of details they remembered from reading the book, and the insightful questions and comments they made. We talked about the book over a wonderful meal; and I answered some of their questions about the book, but also about the publishing process. For example, they wondered why I chose to self-publish. (There is so much to say about this: I need to write a post about it soon. Stay tuned!)
April 2024 Washington DC I will have to get up at 1:00 in the morning in order to join this group, which meets online at 7:30 pm local time in Washington DC. (And no: there is no way I will be able to just stay up that late: ask anyone in my family!) So I will sleep a few hours, and then get up, make myself presentable and coherent, and join the group via Zoom. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to talk about the book with a book group sponsored by Politics and Prose, my favorite bookstore in Washington DC.
One of the things I love most about talking to people who have read the book is learning what kinds of memories/insights/reflections about their own lives, and their own families, were sparked by reading the book. 
Will your book group be the next to put A Long Way From Iowa on your list? Please let me know if you are planning to read it, and if so let me know if you’d like me to visit your group. Or just let me know what kinds of conversations were generated in discussing it. I’d love to hear about them!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
A New Year 2024
Our Christmas celebration this year was a wonderful mix of old and new. One of the things that was new was that we had a very special guest we’ve not had with us before on Christmas Eve. My son’s partner, Diane, joined us for Christmas Eve this year, which is for me a very special, even sacred, holiday. And she shared with us a very special tradition from her family, which you see pictured above. When we arrived back from getting a last-minute Christmas tree, she had prepared a 13 desserts-de-Provence array, a tradition passed down in her mother’s Provencal family. We didn’t have 13 different sweets in the house, but Diane managed to gather 10 and arrange them on this pretty wicker platter. The festive tablecloth is one of many things that had been kept in captivity for eight years (!) in a storage locker in Maryland. I was very happy to be able to release the contents of that locker this summer with the help of one of my sons, who was good enough to spend part of his summer vacation helping me with this far-from-fun task. What a great guy!!!
Another item rescued from the storage locker was my beloved piano! (Interesting fact: when you ship things by sea, you do not pay by weight, you pay by volume; at least that is the way it was for me. So I was able to ship the piano to France at a reasonable price, and in fact it cost less than it probably would have to ship it to some other location in the US–with the added advantage of it now being where my son and I can actually play it! And play it we did, and we will continue to do so in the months and years ahead. What a joy to have this wonderful musical instrument back in our home again. And it has somehow made this place feel even more like home than it did before.
There were many other things rescued from the storage locker, none of them nearly as big as the piano, but altogether they filled one “lift van,” which is essentially a wooden crate that holds about 200 cubic feet of whatever you put in there. In my case, not surprisingly, most of the space was filled with boxes of papers (letters, journals, baby books, photos, etc.), and books; but there were also a few trunks and plastic tubs of things like Christmas decorations, many of them handmade by my Swedish grandparents, and some special quilts and the like. Plus assorted miscellaneous things my sons had been separated from for all those years. Some of it was stuff that should have been pitched long ago, but most of it is not; it is “stuff” that is good to have, and to be able to sort through and digitize and/or save. Or just to enjoy.
We don’t emphasize gift-giving in our home, which removes a lot of the unnecessary stress leading into the holidays. But there are usually a couple of special gifts that are given. This year Diane was very happy to receive her very first Christmas stocking (“We didn’t have them, it’s not really a French thing,” she explained.) And I was really happy to receive some beautiful watercolors painted by my older son, created from images he captured in photographs when we were in Sweden this summer. What a wonderful way to keep the memories of a wonderful time spent in SmĂĄland; and beautiful additions to the artwork in our home.
Clockwise, starting from upper left: the creche I grew up with; Diane and her new Christmas stocking; Champagne, smoked salmon, pain paillasse, and various French cheeses, color me happy! Phin and Sam planting a new tree; apéro time; new artwork for our home, images of Sweden!
I like to go to Christmas Eve church services when I can, and my sons are very good about going along with me, even though it’s not really important to them. However, this year, due to their busy schedules, we only had about 36 hours when we were all together. So even though they offered to go to mass with me, I said I preferred to stay home this time and just enjoy being together. We had so much to do in such a short time! We had to have special Christmas treats (smoked salmon, Swedish meatballs, champagne, bĂ»che de Nöel); Diane needed to call her (French) family, who were gathered in New York; and we even got in a couple of rockin’ Christmas tunes, with me on piano, Sam on guitar, Phineas on tambourine.
Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is to read aloud. Sometimes it is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Sometimes it is a passage from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, or The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; sometimes it has been A Child’s Christmas in Wales. This year I read aloud the Christmas letter I had written to friends and family after the last Christmas we had in Brooklyn, when my sons were four and seven. Then we watched Charlie Brown Christmas, which offers the important (to me) recitation of the Christmas story as told in the Book of Luke, by sweet little Linus. If I get to hear that beautiful passage read aloud at least once on Christmas Eve, for me the essential meaning of the holiday is acknowledged and honored, and I am happy. (As Linus says: “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”)
We’ve started another new tradition in our family in the past couple of years, of planting a tree on Christmas Day. This started the year we lost 32 spruce trees in one year (!) due to an insect infestation that is devastating this type of tree all over Europe. That year it felt somehow not quite right to buy a dead tree! So since then we have been buying living evergreen trees that are not vulnerable to this destructive little insect, and have been planting one, or more, each year.
So now we all arrive at a New Year, here on planet Earth. It’s certainly not hard to imagine many ways in which it could be better than the one we’re just finishing up. Let’s all see what we can do, each of us, to make that happen–shall we?
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France; and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Paris Is Always a Good Idea…
That famous line, attributed to Audrey Hepburn, is actually a line she spoke in the 1954 movie Sabrina. So it is perhaps more accurate to give credit for the sentiment to Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor, and Ernest Lehman, who wrote the screenplay. (Let’s give some credit to screenwriters here! 🙂 ).
In any case, it is a very true statement, at least for me it is. (My most-often stated feeling about Paris is that all things being equal, I am always just a little bit happier when I am there.)
And so I was very lucky–and very happy–to spend a few days there last week. I don’t need much to make me happy when I’m in Paris; it’s enough to just be there, sitting in a cafĂ©, reading, writing, sipping on a cafĂ© crème or a vin chaud, surrounded by French conversation. Enjoying the warmth inside, watching the world go by outside the cafĂ© windows; appreciating the reflection of lights on rainy streets and sidewalks, the occasional colorful umbrella passing by.
But this time I was also lucky to be able to spend time catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and even participate in a special event at the wonderful Red Wheelbarrow, my favorite bookstore in Paris. Penelope Fletcher had asked me to introduce Cathy Yandell, who would be reading from her new book, The French Art of Living Well: Finding Joie de Vivre in the Everyday World, and I was delighted to do so. Cathy is a scholar of French literature (Renaissance poetry to be precise), and professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. Her book is a wonderful blend of stories about her experiences in France over a period of many years as a student, a teacher, a parent of American children in French schools. It also includes appreciation of and really interesting information about French literature, art, music (including contemporary and pop music); and her personal reflections on French ways. Finally it is a cultural guidebook that offers readers great ideas for off-the-beaten-track adventures in France, from thalassotherapy in Royan to the hammam in the Grand Mosque of Paris. (And she doesn’t just tell you you can do these things; she does them and tells you what the experience was like.)
The selections of the book Cathy read that night included a reflection on what Montaigne would have to say about the concept of joie de vivre and a very funny story about how she learned some choice French vocabulary in an episode of (thankfully controlled) road rage between her French “brother” and another French driver on a mountainous road in the south of France.
So. You see what I mean? This book offers intellectual stimulation; valuable information about interesting things to do in France; and it is also just plain fun to read.
Left to right: 1) Penelope Fletcher introducing me; 2) Me introducing Cathy; 3) Cathy Yandell, left, me, right. Photos courtesy of Mark S. McNeil.
I also had the chance while I was there have tea with another author friend, Penelope Rowlands, who curated the wonderful collection of essays, Paris Was Ours. Having tea (or in my case, latte) at Ladurée on the rue Bonaparte is one of those delightfully civilized experiences that momentarily places you in another world altogether. Have you ever seen such a beautiful latte? Stirring the foam felt like an aesthetic crime! At least I captured the artistry before destroying it.
A couple of days later, it was time for me to return to Essoyes. As I waited on the platform for my train to pull into Gare de l’Est this magical vision of what train travel can be glided into the station…and captured everyone’s attention and admiration. You would think that the people on the platform had been transported back to childhood, where a sense of wonder at the beauty of the world shows so openly on the faces of children. We all watched, and dreamed, and appreciated–and who knows? Maybe some of us will be lucky enough to travel on that train one day…
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Home again
My US book tour was a 49-day, whirlwind cross-country trip that offered the opportunity to introduce A Long Way From Iowa (AND Demystifying the French) to readers across the country, from Mystic, Connecticut on the East Coast to Seattle on the West.
Also (and equally important for me) it gave me the chance to reconnect with friends and family I hadn’t seen in some cases for more than five years. That was wonderful!
Now I am back in France, back in my quiet little village in Champagne, and I am beginning to reorient to a totally different pace, and a totally different way of life–but it is going to take a while. I’m not ready yet to write about the still-tumbling thoughts I have about the experiences I had on that cross-country journey, and the things I noticed along the way. One day I will be, and this is where you will find my thoughts and reflections about it when that time comes.
In the meantime I need to focus on building the momentum created during the tour, during which I found that every group of people I met with came up with unique and interesting ways of responding to A Long Way From Iowa, and asked such interesting questions about it. It’s wonderfully rewarding to know that people have read it and had it spark thoughts and memories about their own lives, their own families, their own grandmothers and mothers! And I hope that some of the conversations I had with the people who came to my events will encourage others to write their own stories too. It’s a wonderful thing to do.
Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, is this week. This year I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my sons in Paris. And giving thanks for so many things, too many to name here. Here’s wishing you and yours a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you are. And all good things in the weeks ahead.
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
My favorite reads from 2023
If you are an avid reader and you don’t already know about Shepherd.com, you need to!
This is a wonderful new place to discover amazing books, from (and by) some of your favorite authors.
And Ben Fox’s latest idea is asking members of this community of readers and writers to choose their three favorite reads from 2023.
If you click here, you’ll find out why I chose the books I did.
Wishing you happy reading in the week ahead!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
The Long Way From Iowa Book Tour Heads Back to France…
The coast-to-coast book tour for A Long Way From Iowa is now complete. Forty-nine days after the tour began at a library in Mystic, Connecticut, the final event was held last night–with a wonderful book group meeting in the home of a longtime friend, in Seattle.
It’s been a heartwarming, thrilling ride, and I am so grateful for the interest, support, and help I’ve received all along the way from friends, colleagues, family–as well as acquaintances, interested bystanders, and the public.
Stay tuned for the next installment in this adventure–and thanks so much for your interest!
Janet Hulstrand is an American writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher of writing and of literature who lives in France. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France, and coauthor of Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home.
Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road 