Montana native pens novel on life of American librarian who helped modernize French libraries

New York Times bestselling author of “The Paris Library” Janet Skeslien Charles turns the page to a lesser-known part of history in her new novel, “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade.”

In 1918, an intrepid American librarian, Jessie Carson, arrives in a war-torn France tasked with restoring library services by the American Committee for Devastated France, a volunteer civilian relief organization made up of courageous women headquartered less than 40 miles from the frontlines of World War I. 

What Carson accomplishes revolutionizes France’s library system.

Fast-forward to 1987, librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson comes across Carson’s name in the New York Public Library archives, becoming “consumed with learning her fate.” 

“In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.” 

Like the character Wendy Peterson, Skeslien Charles, a Shelby, Montana, native living in Paris, also stumbled across Carson’s name while perusing library archives.

“In the archives, I kept seeing references to the Paris Library School and Jessie Larson’s name popped up,” she said.

What stood out to the author about Carson’s life is that she didn’t come from a wealthy or affluent family unlike some of her counterparts serving on the relief organization, but accomplished great things that hadn’t been done before.

“Jessie Carson was from a more modest background and worked,” Skeslien Charles said. “She didn’t have the money, or resources, or safety net and she went to France anyway. It was brave of her.”

Skeslien Charles will make a stop in Kalispell on July 16 for a book signing event.

The American Committee for Devastated France, or Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévastées de France (better known as CARD) was founded by philanthropist Anne Morgan, daughter of the wealthy financier and investment banker J.P. Morgan, and her friend Anne Murray Dike.

The pair assembled a group of up to 350 women to help France rebuild its war-ravaged villages and communities, and at times help people evacuate as the bombs started to fall, Skeslien Charles said.

Rebuilding meant placing and training women into positions previously dominated by men, such as librarians. In addition to training the first French female librarians, Carson is credited with starting children’s libraries and turning ambulances and trains into bookmobile.

“It was really unorthodox to have almost all women,” she said about the school where librarians were trained, noting that it was nicknamed the “Wild West Library School.”

Through Carson’s work, the doors of French libraries — almost exclusively accessed by scholars and researchers — were opened to children and the general public.

“She absolutely changed the literary landscape of France and made reading available to all social classes,” Skeslien Charles said.

The open stack concept for the library was also put into practice.

“It seemed very revolutionary at the time to have open stacks where you could just walk in and choose a book,” she said. “In that time, you stood behind a railing and a librarian would go in the back to get books and bring them to you.”

Skeslien Charles worked on “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade” and “The Paris Library” at the same time. When she’d hit a wall in writing or researching one novel, she’d work on the other.

The historically based fiction represents years of research and travel, including to the Morgan Museum in New York, to read non-digitized documents, letters and photos. She also walked the path CARD women once did at the Château de Blérancourt, which served as the organization’s headquarters, where she read letters from volunteers.

“It was very interesting to see those original documents,” she said. 

It was challenging to get a glimpse of Carson’s personal life. Outside of business correspondence, there wasn’t as much available as opposed to women of Morgan’s status.

“‘Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade’ is what one person can do, who doesn’t have a lot of money,” Skeslien Charles said. “She gave all she could. All of her time, all of her effort. All of her knowledge.”

When asked what she hoped readers of “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade” would take away she said, “That one person can make a difference.” 

In deciding to pursue the library trilogy books as historical fiction versus nonfiction, Skeslien Charles said it came down to the availability of source material to glean information from.

“To flesh out her character I had to do some guesswork,” Skeslien Charles said. “You kind of have to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.” 

However, after “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade” was published she said a reader, Gail Baden, got in touch with her about a document. She said Baden is a descendant of one of the CARD volunteers.

“She bought a letter, something personal, not a business report, written by Jessie to her mother,” Skeslien Charles said. 

“The letter was incredible to see. I guessed right, if you want to say it that way, about her motivations, about her finances, about her feelings and about her hopes,” Skeslien Charles said. 

At a time when American libraries are the center of a culture war, Skeslien Charles hopes people remember the value libraries and librarians bring to communities.

“I do think libraries are under fire and our freedom to read and think,” she said. “It’s really one of the only places left where people can go to for free and enjoy themselves,” she said.

She is currently working on the third novel in her library trilogy. In addition to writing, Skeslien Charles also taught English as a second language at the high school level in Odesa, Ukraine, and in France where she moved in 1998 and eventually met her husband. In 2010 and 2012, she took a break from writing to work part-time at the American Library in Paris. The experience served as inspiration for writing “The Paris Library.” 

Skeslien Charles will be in Kalispell for a book signing from 4 to 6 p.m. July 16 at Hooper’s Garden Center, 2205 Montana 35 E., Kalispell. Copies of the two books will be available for sale. 

For more information visit www.jskesliencharles.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com. 

If you go 

Who: Janet Skeslien Charles, author of “The Paris Library” and “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade.” 

What: Book signing. Light refreshments will be served. 

When: 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 16. 

Where: Hooper’s Garden Center, 2205 Montana 35 E., Kalispell. 

    “Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade," by Janet Skeslien Charles, is a novel based on the true life of American librarian Jessie Carson, who was integral in starting children's libraries in France during World War I. It is the latest in a "library trilogy" by the “New York Times” bestselling author of “The Paris Library." Copies of the books will be available at a book signing planned Tuesday, July 16 at Hooper's Garden Center. (Courtesy image)