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Marilyn Leys
A pair of visits to a Wisconsin State Historical Site, ten years apart, presented Marilyn Leys with two different stories about the parents of the young man who commissioned Villa ...voir plusA pair of visits to a Wisconsin State Historical Site, ten years apart, presented Marilyn Leys with two different stories about the parents of the young man who commissioned Villa Louis. The second docent was the one who talked about Jane Fisher's previously unmentioned first husband, who had been the most powerful fur trader in the frontier town of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in the period just after the War of 1812. Another fact learned late was that Jane Fisher Rolette was the first woman in Wisconsin Territory to file a petition for divorce.
Leys had been looking for a project to pursue in order to qualify for a sabbatical leave from Milwaukee Public Schools. Working toward a JBA from the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had taught her how to speed-read through paper documents and interview the best experts about their areas of expertise. Teaching writing -- both journalism and creative writing -- and editing her students' work had taught her how to critique her own. She had already published freelance stories in the Milwaukee Journal. Research for the novel involved visiting sites, sorting through more than 15 boxes of family papers stored in Madison and St. Louis, and reading other papers from southwest Wisconsin courthouses. Interviews included a priest/history professor at Marquette University and the most knowledgeable local historian in Prairie du Chien. There were books too, since the two husbands were central figures and the first husband was so important that the second in command to John Jacob Astor was the godfather of the Rolette children.
After the first draft of the novel was complete, Leys and her husband moved from Milwaukee to a farm in northeast Crawford County. After 20 years there, they moved to the only city in the county, Prairie du Chien, where the author has learned firsthand what it's like to live beside -- and keep an eye on -- the Mississippi River.voir moins
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