EAN: 978-0-9791317-9-0
ISBN: 0-9791317-9-0
First Printing: June, 2009
632 pages, Hardcover
6.14 x 9.21 x 1.375 in., 2.26 lbs.

EAN: 978-0-9791317-8-3
ISBN: 0-9791317-8-2
First Printing: June, 2009
632 pages, Paperback
6.14 x 9.21 x 1.293 in., 1.89 lbs.

Written in a style reminiscent of the popular writer of the time, Victor Appleton (the pseudonymous author of “The Moving Picture Boys” and “Tom Swift” series), Aunt Catherine offers a glimpse into life in the American northwest at the end of the Great Depression, as it was experienced by Catherine and her extended family and friends.

Barbara Janssens can be contacted through her publisher at
866-534-3366, or email publish@realityisbooks.com.

Published by The Green Lady Press,
an imprint of RealityIsBooks.com, Inc.
BISAC: FIC008000 Fiction / Sagas
Wholesale: Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor (USA, Canada); and Bertrams, Blackwell, Gardners, etc. (UK, Europe, and Australia)

About Barbara Janssens and Aunt Catherine

The story of Aunt Catherine has been in the writing stage for years. It all started when I was working in the Chicago area many years ago. There was a small variety store run by a blind organization, and almost daily I went there to make a purchase. Behind the counter was a blind man, whom I found very interesting, because he knew his regular customers and the location of all the different products in the store and their prices.
    The character of Catherine was always on my mind, but what to do with the energetic young blind lady was the question. Then one day my husband said the magic words. He suggested that I write about a man working in a lumberyard in the 1890s. From then on, the story just flowed from my pen; the characters of Catherine Carter and Jake Russell had been born. Jake was able to introduce Catherine to a world that she had only read about. With zeal, Catherine embraced every new small adventure while totally trusting her fiancé and later husband to keep her safe.
    Then Jake dies while he, Catherine, and their middle son Jedidiah are touring Africa. Returning to her family home after losing her husband at the end of their thirteen-years abroad, Aunt Catherine is frail and confused. Catherine now has to cope with new surroundings and unfamiliar relatives. And only she and Jedidiah know the contents of her late husband’s will, and of the keepsake trunk, stored all these years awaiting her return. As Catherine disembarks from the ship, she is welcomed by her childhood friend Becky, and Becky’s daughter Myrtle. Myrtle has also experienced loss; her husband and her father both died in a boating accident two years earlier, leaving her with two small boys to raise.
    Now Catherine, Jedidiah, and her other two sons must deal with emotions of depression and anger after the loss of a wonderful husband and father. A death in a family, no matter how closely related or far apart they may be, has an effect on family and friends. So, in 1939, after the sudden loss of Jake, the members of the well-to-do Russell family struggle to move forward, finally finding new and satisfying lives.
    As I wrote Aunt Catherine, my husband and I enjoyed recalling carefree earlier days, before so many safety devices were required to be worn, before a telephone was attached to the ear and practically every home had at least one computer in the house. In 1939, war loomed on the horizon, and the numerous conveniences that we now take for granted were yet to be invented. What was considered modern technology in 1939 was only the beginning of an era to come. Aunt Catherine is a story of a family working through changes, both in their own lives and in the society in which they live. I hope you enjoy the book.

Barbara Janssens was born in Chicago and raised in a large family. She has worked in the computer field and as Archive Administrator for the Theatre Historical Society of America, headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois. She and her husband have recently retired to a hobby farm in northern Minnesota to enjoy hiking, bicycling, snowshoeing and the four distinct seasons of their new home.

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