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Stone, Steel, and Secrets: Walking into the World of my Novel

Stone, Steel, and Secrets: Walking into the World of my Novel

by Mary Ann Paul | Mar 30, 2025 | Uncategorized

While walking through Boston this past week on a research visit, I walked past 24 School Street, a building constructed around 1925 — just the kind of place my protagonist Petra Wood might have darted into as she trailed a suspect. The building’s clean...
Baking History: A 1918 Fruit Recipe That Helped Win The War

Baking History: A 1918 Fruit Recipe That Helped Win The War

by Mary Ann Paul | Feb 23, 2025 | Uncategorized

There is something satisfyingly intimate about baking a recipe from a 1918 cookbook. As I mixed together diced fruit, flour, and the bare minimum of butter, I was not just following a recipe–I was stepping into the kitchen of a woman who lived during World War 1...
Plundering Digital Archives for a Richer Story

Plundering Digital Archives for a Richer Story

by Mary Ann Paul | Feb 1, 2025 | Uncategorized

Writing historical fiction used to require packing your bags, booking a research trip, and spending days (or weeks) elbow-deep in archival boxes, deciphering spidery handwriting by the dim glow of a reading lamp. For some writers, that kind of research still has its...
October Mountain: Melville’s Literary Gift to the Berkshires

October Mountain: Melville’s Literary Gift to the Berkshires

by Mary Ann Paul | Jan 17, 2025 | Uncategorized

Nestled in the heart of the Berkshires, October Mountain towers over Lenox, the setting for my book, with a quiet grandeur. Throughout my historic mystery, the mountain presides over the lives and secrets of my characters—and is a character in its own right. How did...
Driving While Female in 1919: Lost, Stuck, and Judged

Driving While Female in 1919: Lost, Stuck, and Judged

by Mary Ann Paul | Dec 13, 2024 | Uncategorized

The heroine of my book, Petra, zips around in her trusty 1916 Model T, navigating city streets and rural backroads with aplomb. Writing her adventures has immersed me in the peculiarities of early 20th-century road conditions, and I’ve come away in awe of the fearless...
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