Today, my audiobook The Parisian Chapter comes out! I hope you’ll check it out at your library or favorite audiobook retailer. I am excited for you to discover Lily and Odile’s chapter! I started writing this novel in 2010. As the program manager at the American Library in Paris, I scribbled funny comments from quirky coworkers; soothed stressed, homesick patrons; and even landed in danger. One evening, after an event, audience members said goodbye and went home. As usual, I flicked off the lights behind the circ desk, the last one out the door. Or so I thought. Instead, I found myself alone in a darkened three-story building with a belligerent patron twice my size. When asked, then told to leave, he refused. It was a scary moment.
The Parisian Chapter recounts challenging moments at work as well as the trajectory of a young person fresh out of college as she navigates a new job and budding romance. As I wrote, I recalled my own twenties, a stressful decade with decisions (and indecision) about which city to live in, which jobs to apply for, and who to build a life with. Back then, I felt the weight of the world in a way that I don’t today. In The Parisian Chapter, Lily makes choices about how she wants to live. I hope you’ll enjoy following the characters as they make decisions - friendship or forgetting, reaching out or letting go, and when to give something your all or to give up.
May has been an incredible time to connect with readers. On the 21st, I spoke at the bilingual school, invited by librarian Helen Stathopulos Géhin before crossing town to Belleville, where I was in conversation with librarian Christine Nguyen-Fau at the Bibliothèque Jacqueline Dreyfus-Weill, founded by CARD librarian Jessie Carson. At the Hyères Fête du Livre, I was interviewed by librarian Amandine Girard and loved talking to booksellers, including Coralie Chevillon aka IG cocobouquine, 249 other authors, and countless book lovers!






It was an honor to present La Brigade de Miss Morgan at a library founded by Jessie Carson. She created these shelves over a hundred years ago.
I’m looking forward to spending time back home in Montana and honored to be the keynote speaker of the Shelby Book Club 90th anniversary celebration.


Now, I’ll share some photos of the volunteers featured in Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade. Below, a display created for the 1921 Paris Exhibition to introduce modern library practices such as open stacks, a children’s section, and cozy atmosphere. (Previously, French patrons were asked to wait behind a railing while a bureaucrat searched for books stored in a storage closet under lock and key.)
My books are set in libraries, so that tells you what I value - funding education, libraries, and school breakfast programs. This budget is an investment in our collective future. I’m in awe of the Cards who put time, energy, and money into creating community through reading, whether for soldiers or villagers in the war zone.




May’s giveaway winner is newsletter subscriber, Deborah Clark, chosen at random.
Now, I’m excited to give away a signed copy of Lindsey Tramuta’s incredible book on Paris, seen through the lens of food and culture. For your chance to win, write a comment about something you would love to do in Paris.
As always, thank you for reading my newsletter and for your support. It means the world to me.
My best,
Janet
Lovely Substack! 🇫🇷
so excited to listen to this Chapter ;-)!