Grumpybookworm asked Janet Benton:

I absolutely loved your debut novel. I got it from the library, but I will have to get a hard copy of this one because it's a keeper. There are so many incredibly powerful stories coming out about women and so many of them (like yours) offer wonderful commentary on the plight of women throughout history and even still today. My question is what stories about women have inspired you and your own writing?

Janet Benton Thanks for your note! I'm so glad to know that you loved the novel and will get a hard copy. Thanks for knowing how important that is for writers (sales make it more likely that a publisher will publish our next books!). :-)

So many stories of women have inspired me and my writing. First comes my mother's story, which I know more intimately than any other woman's but my own. Then the stories of women I've met throughout my life. Novels and history books have inspired me, too. Among the novels I found most inspiring in ways relevant to LILLI DE JONG are TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES by Thomas Hardy, MARY REILLY by Valerie Martin, THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte, and PAMELA by Samuel Richardson. I think of the novel, in part, as an homage to the heroines and authors of these novels.

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