Tick Tock Tick Tock

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: What a blustery and rainy weekend we had–and just like that, whoosh, it’s autumn.

Look at these sparrows, who so politely lined up on the window sill under the eaves of our garage to get out of the deluge of  rain. I love the special sparrow spacing, it's quite mathematical!

The leaves are wildly turning, and the sedum are darkening red, and the weary tomatoes have given up the ghost for the year. As I have whined in this space, worst tomato year ever.

Jonathan has gone to  the basement to turn off the irrigation system. The pool guy is coming to close the pool. Our window air conditioners are looking forlorn and out of place.  My little summer dresses suddenly are  gaspingly out of season and upstairs they go,  into the third floor storage.

I got new sweatshirts and a new sweater with a duck on it that I love but you will never see me wear it in public. And I am trying to figure out what I did with all my coats. I put them somewhere…

How about you, Reds and readers? What changes do you see where you live? And how do you know fall is here? What do you to prepare welcome it?

And ohh, when do we change the clocks?

(And did you say rabbit, rabbit today?)

THE SECOND TIME AROUND

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: In the dearth of summer TV, Jonathan and I were  looking for something engaging entertaining and relatable and fun, possibly a little bit life-changing. I saw that Lucy and her husband were watching West Wing, and that seemed like a good idea. So we started at the very beginning, season one episode one and Reds and readers, we are hooked.

We watched it before, when it was on the air the first time in the early 2000s, and I remember loving it, and thinking it was wonderful and groundbreaking and intelligent and powerful, but I have to say, watching it again, it is all of those things and even more.

The writing is astonishing! It is still timely, how can that be? Sometimes hilariously so, one episode recently talked about wacky people coming to the White House, and one of them wanted to convince the president that we should use the map of the world that’s actually accurate. That shows geography in the real size, which makes the United States very small and Africa very big. The way it really looks. (Thank you to Equal Earth and Correct the Map)

The Mercator type maps, the one we are so used to, also  puts the Arctic circle at the top of the globe. Who’s to say that’s right side up?

Anyway, it was incredibly thought-provoking, and what do you know, just recently, a week or so ago, that was one of their proposals before the UN. (Only the United States voted against it.)

There are episodes about patriotism, and extremism. About racism and healthcare and women’s rights and inside politics. About Air Force One, and ballrooms, and dealing with the press.Truly. And I just love the character Donna.

It’s amazing. Reds and readers, do you watch West Wing, have you, would you, do you?

The last episode we watched made us both cry. When was the last time TV did that?  Putting it this way –when was the last time the television rerun made you cry?  Have you gone back and watched anything on TV that’s different-better-worse the second time around? 

LUCY BURDETTE: So glad you are enjoying it the second time around Hank! We feel a little ridiculous watching something so old, but it’s very good writing and television! We are also re-watching Nashville in honor of the death of Hayden Panatiere. It’s so sad how her life mirrored the show. But this is another excellent series. Unfortunately, it just left Netflix, but you can purchase it through Amazon prime or Apple TV. Since we are hopelessly hooked, we are doing that now! 

HALLIE EPHRON: I watched West Wing regularly waaaaay back when. Seems like the one (oops two things) thing I remember is Allison Janney. And Martin Sheen. At the time I thought it was a bit preachy… but then so was Star Trek which I can rewatch endlessly, and a little preachiness is refreshing right now.

I’m going to queue it up on my tv. Between new episodes of Great British Baking Show which restarts in a few days. Weirdly that’s another show with old episodes I can rewatch and be just as surprised at the outcomes as I was the first time around.

JENN McKINLAY: The most recent show that Hub and I rewatched was The Office. If you’ve ever worked with a small group of people, it absolutely holds up. I’m afraid to rewatch West Wing because I’ll get depressed, you know, because there’s no East Wing anymore, so is it truly a West Wing? *Jenn wanders off muttering under her breath*

HANK says: That's what I worried about, too, Jenn. But it's more inspirational than depressing. Really!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I never watched West Wing the first time around, so if I dig into it, it’ll be a premiere for me. But I have been doing a rewatch of sorts. You may remember I was working my way through the ITV Poirot series, and I naturally segued to the ITV Marple series. I’ve now seen all the Geraldine McEwan/Julia McKenzie episodes (including several that I KNOW weren’t Marple mysteries - what’s up with that?) 

I decided I had to give the Joan Hickson version of Miss Marple a try, and am working my way through those episodes with great pleasure. What’s next? You guessed it - the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple movies. So I’m seeing the same stories, but with different casts and production values.

RHYS BOWEN: I can never understand why they have to keep rehashing Miss Marple. To my mind Joan Hickson was perfect. Exactly as I imaged her. Others were too twittery and lacked her natural breeding and grace

And Hallie, I’ll also be starting the British baking show as soon as I get home. 

Right now it’s family dinners and lots of entertaining in Cornwall.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We loved THE WEST WING, back in the day. The writing and acting were amazing, but I've been afraid to rewatch because I thought it would be depressing. But if you say it's more inspirational, Hank, maybe we will give it a try. It would be good to remember how things were supposed to work.

Meanwhile, we are halfway through season 6 (of 7) of ELEMENTARY, which we did not see first time around. I'd say the first four seasons are terrific. I'm flagging a bit in season 4 and now 5, but kind of hate to give up.

HANK:  How about you, reds and readers? Have you watched re-runs of anything recently? Have you been tempted?

Is it different from re-reading a book?

And what do you think of the map of the actual world?

Janet Skeslien Charles's specialty: Fearless travel & turning poorly paid jobs into bestselling novels."

 

HALLIE EPHRON: One of the great pleasures of the teaching I get to do is the talented authors I meet.

When I was teaching a week-long class this summer on mystery writing in Paris for WICE (Where Internationals Connect In English), I got to hang out with fantastic writer and all-around delightful person, Janet Skeslien Charles.

She's the New York Times international bestselling author of The Paris Library, as well as Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade, The Parisian Chapter, and Moonlight in Odessa.

Janet grew up in Montana but now she's living in Paris, speaks fluent French, and writes and teaches in English. It was so much fun getting to hang out with her, and I never got to ask her how, on earth, has she done something that I could never imagine doing: traveling widely, living abroad, and learning to think and breathe (and write!) in another language?

First thing I'm dying to know: How did a girl from Montana end up writing living in Paris and writing a HUGE international bestseller??

JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES: It was wonderful to spend time with you, Hallie! Thank you for your kind words.

I became interested in France because as a child my neighbor was a war bride from Normandy. In 1998, I got a job teaching English in France and meant to live there for a school year, but ended up staying in Paris… for 25 years!

In 2010, I was writing a novel set in Ukraine at home in my apartment. Unfortunately, my building underwent massive construction, so to escape the hammering, I got a job at the American Library in Paris.

On my first day at work, I knew the place was a novel.

I researched the librarians who defied the Nazis in order to hand-deliver books to Jewish readers.

After painful rejections from my first agent and the publisher of my debut novel, I queried 75 agents and was accepted by Heather Jackson. After ten looong years, The Paris Library was finally published and became a New York Times bestseller. The follow-up book The Parisian Chapter was finally published in 2025, after fifteen years.

I mention this in case fellow writers are reading this. Keep writing! Keep going!

HALLIE: And how does that [spirit of adventure?] imbue your characters and your storytelling?

JANET: At heart, I’m interested in journeys and the way that we react to changes in circumstances, whether it be marriage, divorce, widowhood, a new job, getting fired, having children, not having children, becoming an empty nester, breaking up with a friend, having cancer or Covid, or moving to a new country.

My debut, Moonlight in Odessa, is about the booming business of email-order brides. Several of my Ukrainian friends – talented, motivated, intelligent women – married foreigners to escape poverty.

In my second novel The Paris Library, a librarian who has made a terrible mistake flees France by marrying a G.I.

Though the books are set in different countries and eras, the themes and plight of the main characters – one an email-order bride, the other a war bride – are essentially the same. I describe people out of their elements as they deal with loss of the familiar or loss of loved ones. At some point in our lives, most of us usually have to start over.

My books are about and for people who struggle.

HALLIE: I'm fascinated to hear about the travel and research you did to write that debut novel, Moonlight in Odessa.

JANET: Growing up in small-town Montana during the Cold War, I was a voracious reader of books, magazines, and newspapers.

As a teen, I noticed that color photographs taken in France or England featured young people having fun on the beach or dancing, while photos taken in the Soviet Union featured old women in headscarves waiting in line for bread. These pictures were always in black and white.

I knew those images didn’t tell the whole story, and so I wanted to see for myself. I took Russian classes at the University of Montana with the intention of working in the (then) Soviet Union.

At this time, I translated letters from lonely Montanan men to Russian and Ukrainian women, who the men had found through catalogues. International Matchmaking Organizations: A Report to Congress (1999) notes that, “Mail-order marriage is not a new phenomenon—it is an inseparable part of North American history and the settlement of the United States.” My home state was in part populated by mail-order brides in the 1800s and early 1900s.

I interviewed dozens of women, women who took a chance on love and moved across the world to marry someone they didn’t know very well. I’m interested in war brides and email order brides because of their courage and grit.

HALLIE: Your novels tend to be set in the historical past. How have you chosen the backdrops for your stories? Or have they chosen you?

JANET: I feel lucky to stumble onto the stories. When I was thinking about working in the former Soviet Union, I opened an atlas and pointed to a spot, which is how I ended up in Odessa. (After Montanan winters, I aimed for someplace warm.)

Odessans are incredible people, and I wanted to write about the city and its people, through the experiences of one woman. That novel was interrupted by construction on my apartment building. The hammering drove me out of my comfort zone and into a job that led to other stories.

So there’s an element of chance, and element of making the best of things, and paying sharp attention and asking questions.

HALLIE: I love the way you described your own special approach to writing: "If I have a specialty in writing, it is taking poorly paid jobs and turning them into novels." Tell us more, please!

Janet: Oh my goodness! My first professional job was teaching English in Odessa, Ukraine.

Thanks to a fellowship from the Soros Foundation, I received an airline ticket, travel insurance, and a $100 monthly stipend. The contract stipulated that I earn 120% of a head teacher’s salary. Fresh out of college, I would earn the same amount as an experienced teacher. Not bad!

Imagine my surprise at receiving my first pay and learning that my monthly salary was $25.

Young and inexperienced, I didn’t know which questions to ask. Despite the very low wages, I loved my job and my time in Odessa.

At the library, my contract was for minimum wage and fifteen hours a week. My colleagues and I all worked overtime. The boss promised “comp time” that never materialized.

I wish I’d had better boundaries. I’m proud of today’s generation, who are standing up for themselves on the job. Still, it worked out because I published a library trilogy about real-life American librarians who worked in France during world wars.

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade features Jessie Carson, a Pittsburgh librarian who joined the American Committee for Devasted France. This all-woman aid organization worked just forty miles from the Front and helped civilians who had lost their homes and livelihoods.

Jessie Carson created the first children’s libraries in France during World War I. After the war, she founded libraries in Paris and Northern France. She paved the way for an international library school, which French authorities dubbed “The Wild West Library School.” It was housed in the library where I worked.

HALLIE: Can you tell us a little about of your newest book and the spark that got you hooked writing it?

JANET: My latest novel is The Parisian Chapter, which is set during dark moments in the City of Light in the 1990s. I took copious notes while working at the American Library in Paris as the programs manager. My coworkers, trustees, and library members fascinated me. When people from different walks of life cross paths – it creates friction.

In the novel, the main character Lily meets an extraordinary cast of characters—including her favorite writer, struggling students, haughty trustees, and devoted volunteers—each with their own stories...and agendas.

My favorite review of the book calls it “The Devil Wears Prada, set in a library.”

The novel is an ode to libraries. It’s for anyone who's ever chased a dream, lost a friend, or found a place that feels like home - even if it's across the world.

HALLIE: Where should readers be looking for you to hear firsthand about you and your storytelling?

JANET: The Parisian Chapter came out in May, and I’m excited that my debut Moonlight in Odessa is being re-issued on December 1st.

My favorite place to connect with readers is my website jskesliencharles.com or my Substack newsletter, where I write about the women who inspire me, books I love, and life in Montana and Paris. My favorite post is about the similarities of writing and wheat farming (my parents’ profession). A Golden Harvest - by Janet Skeslien Charles https://jskesliencharles.substack.com/p/a-golden-harvest

Thank you so much for having me on Jungle Red Writers! 

HALLIE: THANK YOU!!

Janet will be hanging out here at Jungle Red today, checking in possibly from Paris... so please, share your reactions and questions... please, pile on!