Author Chat with Jenny Leo

Welcome to Stitches Thru Time, Jenny! We're happy to have you here. Your new release, Ain't Misbehavin', is making a splash around social media. This is the second book you've set in the 1920s. What compels you to write about this era?

JL: It seems that many people’s image of the Roaring Twenties is limited to gangsters and flappers and drunken people dancing in fountains. There was so much more to it than that! I get weary of reading stories set in the 1920s that glorify crime, vice, and plummeting moral standards. I want to show another side, that God’s principles remain the same no matter what the culture around us is doing. Both then and now, it’s not about staying stuck in the past and rejecting everything modern, but about discerning which attitudes and behaviors are worth adopting, and which are best left alone.

What a great way to look at history of any era. How do you research the history in your stories?

JL: I start with a story-sometimes a family story that has piqued my interest, or just an interesting idea. I use reference books to get an overall framework for the era, but prefer newspapers and magazines for local current events and cultural zeitgeist. I collect women’s magazines of the era, which show what women cared about back then and are a goldmine of images of clothing, hairstyles, and household goods. Recordings of old radio programs are great for getting a sense of how people talked.

Wow! You really submerse yourself in your setting. And I'll bet you find nuggets you never expected. If you were to learn a skill from historical times, which would it be?

JL: All forms of dancing, from the Virginia reel to the lindy hop.

Oh, wouldn't that be FUN!? People can purchase your new release, Ain't Misbehavin', and your Carol award-winning first novel, You're the Cream in My Coffee, on Amazon. They are available in both paperback and ebook formats.

Jennifer Lamont Leo captures readers’ hearts through stories set in times gone by. Her first novel, You’re the Cream in My Coffee, won a 2017 Carol Award and a 2016 Grace Award. She is also a copywriter, editor, and journalist. Growing up in Illinois, she loved listening to stories about Chicago’s vibrant history. Today she writes from the mountains of northern Idaho.

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Buy links:

You’rethe Cream in My Coffee 

Ain’tMisbehavin’