The Jane Healey Happy Hour

Jane Healey discusses The Thread Collectors by Alyson Richman and Shaunna Edwards. 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not only her efforts but her love for William, a Black soldier and a brilliant musician.

Meanwhile, in New York City, a Jewish woman stitches a quilt for her husband, who is stationed in Louisiana with the Union Army. Between abolitionist meetings, Lily rolls bandages and crafts quilts with her sewing circle for other soldiers, too, hoping for their safe return home. But when months go by without word from her husband, Lily resolves to make the perilous journey South to search for him.

As these two women risk everything for love and freedom during the brutal Civil War, their paths converge in New Orleans, where an unexpected encounter leads them to discover that even the most delicate threads have the capacity to save us. Loosely inspired by the authors' family histories, this stunning novel will stay with readers for a long time.

Three Fabulous Authors: Piper Huguley, Libbie Grant and Aimie K. Runyan. Jane Healey welcomes them together to celebrate the launch of Piper Huguley’s novel, By Her Own Design. It's the incredible untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America's most famous wedding dresses of all time for Jackie Kennedy. NYT Bestselling author Kate Quinn says Huguley has crafted a “heroine for the ages."

Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. In 2019, Meet Me in Monaco was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to fifteen languages. Up and coming, her next solo novel, The Next Ship Home, is inspired by true events and reveals the dark secrets of Ellis Island as two unlikely friends challenge a corrupt system, altering their fate and the lives of the immigrants that come after them, out in Feb 2022. Check her website for more details on release dates and book club visits.

Jane Healey welcomes the fabulous Elise Hooper to discuss her latest novel Angels of the Pacific.  Inspired by the extraordinary true stories of World War II’s American Army nurses famously known as the Angels of Bataan and the unsung contributions of Filipinas of the resistance, this novel transports us to a remarkable era of hope, bravery, perseverance, and ultimately—victory.

Diana Giovinazzo is the latest guest of Jane Healey to discuss her latest novel, Antoinette’s Sister. As Marie Antoinette took her last breath as Queen of France in Paris, another formidable monarch—Antoinette’s dearly beloved sister, Charlotte—was hundreds of miles away, in Naples, fighting desperately to secure her release from the revolutionaries who would take her life. Little did Charlotte know, however, that her sister’s execution would change the course of history—and bring about the end of her own empire.

Jane Healey welcomes Jillian Cantor to the podcast to discuss Beautiful Little Fools. Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby’s romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.

Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women’s perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled. 

The Last Season is a collaboration between Jenny Judson and Danielle Mahfood, who met in high school and shared a mutual love of historical fiction and romance novels. Instead of passing notes in class, Jenny and Danielle would write short excerpts from imaginary novels that featured themselves and their classmates as characters caught up in tales of romance and adventure. Many years later, after cheering for opposite teams at Harvard-Yale games, they came together in New York City to begin writing The Last Season, inspired both by the Victorian period and the financial crisis of 2008.

Ron Balson joins the podpodcast hosted by Jane Healey. We will be discussing his  novel, Defending Britta Stein, a fascinating story of bravery, betrayal and redemption. 

Nicola Harrison joins Jane Healey to discuss her novel, The Show Girl. The novel gives a glimpse of the glamorous world of the Ziegfeld Follies through the eyes of a young midwestern woman who comes to New York City to find her destiny as a Ziegfeld Follies star.

Nicola Harrison is the author of two historical fiction novels, Montauk and The Show Girl (August 10, 2021). Born and raised in England, she moved with her family to Southern California when she was 14. She is a graduate of UCLA and received her MFA from Stony Brook. Prior to writing novels, she worked as a fashion journalist in New York City and now lives in Manhattan Beach, California with her husband, two sons and a high-maintenance chihuahua named Lola.

Bestselling author Mark Sullivan joins Jane Healey to discuss his novel, The Last Green Valley, the epic WWII story of one family’s decision to escape tyranny and run to freedom.