Janet realized her vision in her middle-grade novel “The Snake Fence,” published by Quaker Bridge Media.
The novel tells the story of Noble Butler, a Quaker farm boy in Colonial Pennsylvania who gets caught up in the turmoil of the French and Indian Wars.
“I originally planned to write a novel per war, focusing on a new Quaker character each time, but this one took nine years to research and write,” Janet says with a laugh. “So for now I’m enjoying that this novel is reaching readers and has even been used in several classrooms.”
Janet grew up in New Albany, Ind., she says, and after marrying her college sweetheart, traveled with him as he took various posts as a Presbyterian minister.
One assignment brought the couple to the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Piqua from 1976-80.
Janet says that while living in Piqua she particularly enjoyed visiting the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency in Piqua (www.johnstonfarmohio.com), a living history museum that focuses on American Indian, frontier and canal history.
“I went to many farming and domestic life demonstrations there,” says Janet. “Later, when I was researching my novel, I remembered how valuable it was to have a hands-on experience, as much as possible, to go back in time.”
That experience inspired her to volunteer at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation while living in Pennsylvania, where she did much of the researching and writing of her novel. She also read numerous texts and studied many old maps to research her novel.
“I’d say half of my nine years working on my novel was spent on research, and the other half on writing,” Janet says.
Janet now lives in Sarasota, Fla., with her second husband. (She remarried after her first husband passed away.) She’s a retired high school teacher, but says she wanted to be a writer ever since her girlhood, when she first read “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott.
However, Janet has extended family in the area, including her cousin Madelyn Coons, whose book club meets at the Museum of the Friends Home in Waynesville.
“It just seemed a natural fit to have a book reading and discussion at the museum, given the subject of my novel,” Janet says.
Her book reading and discussion will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Museum at the Friends Home, 115 S. Fourth St., Waynesville. The event is open to the public, but because it is a fundraiser for the museum’s preservation and education efforts, a $5 donation is requested.
Learn more about the museum online at www.friendshomemuseum.org.
Learn more about Janet and her book at www.janetolshewsky.com.
Events
• Sunday, July 26, 7 p.m., Dharma Center of Dayton (425 Patterson Road, just west of Shroyer Road): Gem City Poetry Stage will open with a featured reading by Maggie Smith; open mic will follow.
• Tuesday, July 28, 10 a.m.-noon: “Queries and Questions About Traditional Publishing,” with Katrina Kittle, a Word’s Worth Writing Center class held at the conference room of the Oakwood Starbucks, 2424 Far Hills Ave. To learn more or to register, visit www.wordsworthdayton.com.
• Friday, Aug. 7, 7 p.m., Books & Co. at The Greene, Beavercreek: Rhys Bowen, New York Times best-selling mystery author, introduces her newest mystery novel, “Malice at the Palace.”
About the Author