Falling for Autumn

One of the first people I asked to read Plantagenet Princess Tudor Queen before it was published pointed out some of my Americanisms that needed to go. The one I remember most vividly was referring to autumn as fall. Upon thinking about it, I agreed that autumn does sound so much nicer, and I've tried to get into the habit of referring to this beautiful, chilly season by the term favored on the other side of the pond.

In October 2019, I was in Ottawa, Illinois, doing research for the book that would become Luminous. I hadn't decided on a title yet, but I was completely drawn into Catherine Donohue's story and felt so honored to walk the streets she had walked and go to Sunday morning worship at her church. Starved Rock was and is a gorgeous place for an autumn hike, so I did, imagining Catherine doing the same all the while.

In Luminous, it is during a trip to Starved Rock that Catherine and Charlotte first encounter a little bird that they would meet several times through their tragic journey. This element of the story was taken from a newspaper article in which a descendent of Charlotte's mentioned that she would say a little bird was a visit from Catherine long after her friend had died of radium poisoning. I decided this little bird deserved its own place in the story and called it Hope.

The following October, in 2020, I was on a rather different trip. Along with my husband and youngest son, I toured the old Northern Michigan Asylum in Traverse City. Now called the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, this lovely old place is partly renovated shops and housing and part dilapidated ruins that get a creative mind churning. At the time though, I couldn't think of what exactly to do with this amazing setting.

A few months later, I was approached about writing a ghost story for Historical Writers Forum, and I knew just where mine would take place. Besides the breathtaking views of trees and surrounding lakes, the old asylum has tunnels that used to serve as its heating system. An Edith Wharton style ghost story started forming in my mind and eventually was published in the Hauntings anthology.

My story was titled Among the Lost, and since I had recently published Luminous, I decided to set it during the same time, 1927, and give a nod to my Ottawa ladies in a glow-in-the-dark painting owned by one of the asylum residents. I also couldn't resist having another patient who loudly and randomly quoted Dante, which gave me the title. If you've already read Hauntings, you know what is discovered within the tunnels of the asylum.

Living in Michigan, I have a love-hate relationship with autumn. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I love the onset of sweatshirt weather, going on hikes, and trying to take photos that capture nature's majesty. However, Michigan's seasons aren't as balanced as they should be, and that crisp wonderfulness quickly devolves into cold, wet, snowy bleakness. If we could just get more than a couple weeks of perfect pumpkin spice fall...

This October, I am working on two James A Hamilton projects, neither autumn themed I am sad to say, but one that will be available to my dear readers soon. You probably already know that I am working on a biography for Pen & Sword that is scheduled for publication January 2025, but if you've been enjoying my posts about James and would like something sooner, you're in luck! This year's Historical Writers Forum anthology contains short stories based on works of art, and I decided that mine would be the marble statue of Alexander Hamilton that was destroyed in New York's Great Fire of 1835. In this short story, James reflects on his life and ponders if he has honored his father's legacy. Masterworks is available now for only 99c and is free with Kindle Unlimited.

One more little bit of news before I go. In response to requests for signed copies of my books and for those who prefer to "shop small" rather than through Amazon, I have opened up a little online bookshop. Orders here will be filled directly from my home to yours, so I can sign books and will include little bonuses like stickers and bookmarks. Please keep small businesses, and especially independent writers, in mind as you consider your Christmas shopping this year. 

Enjoy this fantastic season while it lasts, and happy reading!

All photos taken by me at Starved Rock State Park, the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, and around my home in southwest Michigan. If you enjoy my photos and writing/research updates, please follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

The History behind Luminous: The Story of a Radium Girl

 As a historical fiction author, one of the most common questions I am asked is 'How much of that story is true?' In all of my novels, I strive for historical accuracy as much as possible and try to fill in the gaps in a way that fits with historical figures' personalities and circumstances. Since Luminous takes place in a much more recent era than my previous works, I was blessed with source material from newspapers, personal letters, and even a visit to Ottawa, Illinois, where Catherine Wolfe Donohue and her friends lived.

If you have read Luminous, you know that each chapter begins with a historical quote from one of the people included in the novel or from a scientist or journalist of that era. I did this to constantly remind readers that this story is true. When you feel yourself getting angry at the actions (or lack thereof) of Radium Dial or you can't quite believe the suffering the women endured, remember that it is not a figment of my imagination.

One of the first and most priceless sources of material I discovered when researching Catherine's story were the newspaper articles stored by Len Grossman, son of Catherine's attorney, Leonard Grossman. Scrolling through the headlines feels surreal, and one can imagine the public's reaction at the time - those who felt the same anger and sympathy that we do and those who supported the radium companies and assumed the women were lying to make a quick buck. I appreciated that these articles offered images of the women. I had real faces to attach to the familiar names. I discovered that Catherine wore a polka-dot dress and insisted on having one on my book cover.

My next step was visiting Ottawa, Illinois, where Catherine lived her short life and worked at Radium Dial. The old schoolhouse that was home to Radium Dial was long gone - the material from its destruction having been spread around town and used for land fill, exacerbating the radiation problem that continues to plague the area. However, I was able to attend church at St Columba, where Catherine had been baptized and married. This was an important place to include in her story and it made me feel closer to her to be there. I was also able to climb Starved Rock and drive by the house she inherited from her aunt and uncle.

Today, Ottawa has a memorial to the dial painters who suffered and died due to the negligence of the radium industry. It isn't centrally located like the Lincoln-Douglas statue but sits on a quiet corner a bit away from the busier part of the historic downtown district. At first that made me a bit sad, but later I found it fitting. Catherine and her friends never wanted to be the center of attention. They were forced into it.

Not far away from Ottawa, the LaSalle County Historical Museum holds the Pearl Payne collection. Again, readers of Luminous will remember that Pearl was one of Catherine's closest friends who outlived her by several decades though she also suffered effects of radium poisoning. This collection gave me the most intimate look into the women's lives as I read their personal letters, quotes from which I included in dialog of my novel. I'll never forget holding a letter written by Catherine where she begged Pearl to visit because she was 'so lonesome and blue.' Pearl also kept a collection of newspaper clippings and record of the testing she underwent for study of the radium in her body. She kept telegrams from Leonard Grossman and a memorial card from Catherine's funeral.

Finally, I was able to locate - after much wandering and searching - Catherine Donohue's simple grave. It is located just outside town, near that of her husband, Tom, who never remarried. The historian part of my brain had expected something more monumental, but, like the downtown monument, I should not have been surprised that Catherine's memorial stone was simple and unobtrusive.

I wish I could have written Catherine a longer story. I wish she could have been healed and won a huge monetary settlement, but the truth of her story did not allow me to do so. That's the problem with history. It cannot be changed, but, hopefully, we learn from its lessons.

Haven't read Luminous yet? Read the first chapter for free HERE or purchase it on Amazon in paperback on on Kindle.

Historic Places: Ottawa, Illinois

I know what you're thinking. What? Where?

Hear me out. (If you do, there's a surprise at the end!)

Ottawa is a little city that you've probably never heard of, but it boasts a hefty historical background that includes Abraham Lincoln, the I&M Canal, and the Radium Dial Corporation. Murals throughout Ottawa's downtown depict scenes like Native Americans hunting buffalo, soldiers marching to join the Civil War, turn-of-the-century children playing with marbles made in their own Peltier Glass Factory, and the centennial of the Great Debate.

Ottawa's Great Debate and proudest moment in history occurred on August 21, 1858, and there is no way to visit Ottawa without learning this! Starting with a giant monument in the center of Washington Square, where the debate occurred, but also included in multiple murals, every local museum & historical society, and tourism marketing, the Lincoln-Douglas debate is a pretty big deal.

Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were debating the hot topic of the day: slavery, in a debate that was attended by a crowd of 14,000, an astounding turnout for a senatorial debate in the mid-19th century. If your brain is churning through dates right now, you will have calculated that Lincoln lost to Douglas. Otherwise, he would not have been able to be elected President in 1860. One might say that Lincoln excelled at losing the battle but winning the war.

Washington Square is also home to memorials to Ottawa soldiers in the Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI & II, Korean War, and Vietnam.

Across the road from Washington Square, Douglas supporters watched the debate from the Reddick Mansion. Ardent democrats and the wealthiest family in town, the Reddicks had finished their Italianate mansion just a month before the Big Day, so it was a great opportunity to show off the four story, 22-room beauty. When William Reddick died in 1885, he left his luxurious home to the city to be the home of the Ottawa library. It served in this capacity for almost 90 years, and since the 1970's, efforts have been made to restore the Reddick Mansion to its former glory. A few spectacular examples of workmanship have survived, such as woodwork painted to create the appearance of different species of wood and detailed trimwork.

Just east of the Reddick Mansion is a construction site. It is a future Subway - the sandwich shop, not underground trains - but some local residents have vowed never to eat there. Why? The lot used to be the address of Radium Dial, a company that left the town poisoned by radioactivity and caused the painful unnecessary deaths of many young women who worked there from WWI until they closed in 1934.

Catherine & her children, Chicago Daily Times, 1938

One of those young women was my reason for visiting Ottawa. Catherine Wolfe, later Donohue, started working at Radium Dial in 1922 when she was 19 years old. It was a dream job for a young, working class girl. Women painted watch faces with glow-in-the-dark paint, a job that was considered a step above other manual labor and paid 2-3 times as much. Little did they know that they were slowly and irreversibly poisoning themselves. The girls would dip their brushes in the radium-infused paint and then point the bristles with their lips to create the point necessary to trace the fine markings of the watch dials. They would also paint their nails & faces with the paint, just for fun, or wear their going-out dresses to work to collect the omnipresent factory dust, so that they would glow like angels when they went on their dates.

Long after experts understood the dangers of radium and long after Radium Dial understood what was happening to these girls, the girls themselves figured out that the teeth they were losing, the diseases they were suffering, the pain coursing through their bodies, and the cancers they were dying of were caused by radium poisoning. Radium Dial fought with lies, lawyers, and deep pockets to avoid paying restitution to the women and their families or making changes to the workplace.

Catherine Donohue worked at Radium Dial until 1931, when she was fired because her limp (caused by radium poisoning) was disconcerting to the other girls. When she and some of her friends brought suit against Radium Dial, they became the basis for reform in workplace safety and employer responsibility. Safety standards were finally established for radioactive materials, but it was too late for Catherine. She died in 1938, her body riddled with poison and weighing only 70 pounds. She left behind two children, aged 3 & 5. In Catherine's lead-lined, concrete encased casket, her body is still glowing.

Catherine is the reason I went to Ottawa. She will be featured in my next novel, because the story of the Radium Girls, as she and her friends became known, needs to be told. It is a story not just of worker exploitation and corporate greed, but more importantly of friendship, faith, and resilience.

I know that I am asking my readers to take a big step out of the early Tudor era and into those years between The Wars. Into the years of scientific advances that outpaced safety, years of prohibition and women's suffrage. But every era & every woman's story share timeless connections of life, love, and discovering our purpose. 

Catherine faced her calling and a fate that no one would ever ask for with courage, determination, and the deep faith of a little midwestern Catholic girl in a way that both breaks my heart and makes me want to be a better person. I hope you will enjoy her story.