In this episode, KyLee and Darcy share a few holiday highlights, then KyLee sits down with author Julie Klassen to talk about research, faith, and her latest Regency release.

Key takeaways

• Holiday traditions can be simple, and still feel special.
• Teachers and read-aloud stories can shape a reader and a writer for life.
• Julie Klassen weaves themes of grace, forgiveness, and second chances into her fiction.
• Real places and local legends can add weight and texture to historical novels.
• Whispers at Painswick Court blends romance with gothic atmosphere and a murder plot.
• Holiday baking, hot chocolate, and an Instagram invite
• A Bookworm Review of The Lost Girl of Astor Street, Stephanie Morrill

KyLee: Today I will be talking with Julie Klassen. Darcy will not be with us because she’s gone to spend some time with her family.

We’re recording this beforehand, and Darcy, we are about 10 days until Christmas. I know you are full of Christmas cheer and doing tons of Christmas things. No, that is not true. Darcy and I were talking about how it feels like the season has not quite started because we have been so busy.

However, there are a couple special things we would like to share with you.

Darcy: The most Christmas-y thing I am doing this year is making hot chocolate over and over at the ice cream shop. I’m not complaining — I love hot chocolate. I love making it, frothing the milk and everything.

I am really looking forward to visiting my sister for Christmas. She lives five hours away. We see each other regularly through the year, but I’m going to spend a whole week at her place with my younger sister. The three of us will be hanging out.

She has to work, so we’ll probably be doing some reading during the day. I have a couple of Christmas novellas picked out, one by Rosanna White. I’m looking forward to relaxing and doing Christmas-y things after I get the chaos behind me.

KyLee: Do you ever throw something in with your hot chocolate, or make it different?

Darcy: I’m very classic. I like to stir it with a candy cane and let that slowly melt in. So it’s like a peppermint hot chocolate.

KyLee: I only ask because I started baking while procrastinating on preparing for this episode. I had this idea to take peanut butter cookies, make them a little bigger, and put a Reese’s cup in the middle. Like you put a chocolate kiss in the middle. We got Reese’s cups and they were PB&J, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I thought, let’s see if I can make this work. I get halfway through the recipe. I have my sugar out, shortening measured, flour measured, and I have no peanut butter. I do not know how this happened in my house.

My oldest has a pretty severe allergy to milk that affects her esophagus. Finding things like proteins is something we’re constantly trying to do. I pulled out some plant-based chocolate protein powder and mixed that in with the cookies, then cooked them up. They are so good.

They are a little heavy on the sugar. Along with having my daughter with this severe allergy, my husband has diabetes. So I rarely bake. I was procrastinating and it is Christmas time, so I broke that out. He tried them against my recommendation. He hates coconut, and since it is plant-based, it has coconut, so he does not want them. So it worked out.

Darcy: I love that you are improvising with your holiday baking. This may be a new tradition. You might end up making these chocolate-protein-powder cookies every Christmas now.

KyLee: They might be the start of a beautiful Christmas dessert. For our listeners, we are going to do something fun. Pop over to Instagram, on the Historical Bookworm Podcast page. On Instagram, it is Historical Bookworm Podcast, not Historical Bookworm Show. You will find a picture of my cookies, and Darcy, a picture of some hot chocolate.

Darcy: Yes, absolutely.

KyLee: We would love to see pictures of your sweet treats that you are making this holiday season. Now we are going to get on to the show with Julie Klassen.

Julie Klassen loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. She worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. Three of her novels have won the Christy Award for Historical Romance. She has also won the Minnesota Book Award, the Midwest Book Award, and Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. Julie is a graduate of the University of Illinois. She and her husband have two sons and live in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

KyLee: Julie, welcome to the Historical Bookworm Show.

Julie: Thank you, KyLee. I’m happy to be here.

The most Jane Austen thing, besides tea

KyLee: Tea drinking goes without saying for an Anglophile. What is the most Jane Austen thing, other than drinking tea, that you might incorporate into your daily life?

Julie: True confessions, I do not drink as much tea as I’m probably alleged to do. I am a coffee drinker. Normally it is coffee in the morning, and then I might switch to tea. I just went to the Jane Austen Christmas and birthday party for my local Jane Austen Society of North America meeting and drank lots of tea. Today I drank lots of tea, but it’s not usual.

I don’t incorporate a lot of things from the Regency era into my real life because I like my computer and technology. A few things I do. I love candles. I’m not a writer who writes with music or soundtracks, but I do love to burn sweet-smelling candles when I write. If we’re talking about Christmas, then I do love to go to church. We have candlelit services. Charity was very big in the Jane Austen time during Christmas in general. Those kinds of things I am a fan of, but I also like modern medicine and other ways of modern life.

KyLee: I agree with you about the modern thing. There is something homey and romantic about candles. Aromatherapy would be great for when you are writing.

Julie: I do enjoy it.

Ordinary people who leave a lasting impact

KyLee: Jane Austen’s characters are average people with ordinary lives, often drawn from real life observations. Can you tell us about a time an ordinary person left a lasting impact on your life?

Julie: There are a lot. I’ll name teachers. Mrs. Hayes read Jane Eyre to us out loud over several weeks in the sixth grade. That cemented my love of all things English, British literature. Even though I grew up in Illinois, she had a big impact on me. Later, Mrs. Mitchell, a high school writing English teacher, encouraged me in my writing. I am still connected with both of those women online, and I send them my books every year.

KyLee: Teachers have a big impact on our lives. There is something special about having a story read aloud to you. It builds trust and imagination. I am a teacher, so I try to read out loud to my students often. I read to them every day. When my children were younger, I read out loud to them too. They don’t really let me do that anymore.

How faith and writing intersect

KyLee: Could you share a little bit about how faith and writing intersect for you?

Julie: I came to Christ later, in my 20s. A lot of my books carry similar themes of grace, forgiveness, second chances, things that I appreciate in my own life. God was very generous to me and wooed me and called me and saved me when I was not interested in Christianity. I try to weave those kinds of things into my books. I have imperfect characters who make mistakes, because that is what I did and continue to do. I am grateful for His mercy, and I try to weave that into all of my books.

KyLee: It makes sense that you would share those experiences. We write what we know.

Real history, and writing historical fiction versus fantasy

Is there anything especially interesting you haven’t covered in other interviews for this book?

Julie: One of the things I love about being a historical writer is that, even though I am writing fiction, I love to base things on what was really happening. My book is set in a real place called Painswick in England. Someone praised me about how I continue to show great historical medical knowledge. I laughed because I have zero real medical knowledge, but it shows I have to do a lot of research. For this book, the main character is a surgeon’s daughter. She is trying to serve as a sick room nurse to an older woman.

It was a fun connection that Jenner, who came up with the smallpox vaccination, was related to Painswick. I did not know that when I made the setting there. It was interesting to include some real history about medical practices. I do a lot of research, but I am not a medical expert.

KyLee: You do your research and write those characters and that story, and it takes off. Weaving in historical details makes a difference. I am a fan of fantasy too, but I like that historical fiction is anchored in the way it really was.

Julie: In fantasy, you have to build that whole world. In historical, I have anchors, but you still have to build the world for the story. I don’t think I could be a fantasy writer. You would have to make up all your rules and keep track of it.

KyLee: I would have to have lists of rules, then I would lose the list and find it a decade later on my computer.

Julie: You and I have a similar organizational system. There are so many resources in historical. I can check if a word is too modern. I can see if Jane Austen used it.

KyLee: Let’s talk about your latest release, Whispers at Painswick Court.

Anne Loveday, a surgeon’s daughter, is determined to live a single, useful life. To escape her matchmaking stepmother, she accepts an invitation from an old friend to return to Painswick, the place she and her sister spent many happy summers until that last, fateful year.

Soon after arriving, Anne is asked to serve as sick-room nurse to Lady Celia, who forbade her nephew to marry Anne’s sister years before. Pushing aside resentments, Anne moves into Painswick Court, a shadowy old house rumored to be haunted. Also in residence are Lady Celia’s spinster daughter, her handsome adult nephews, and a secretive new lady’s maid. 

Two local doctors visit regularly as well, one of whom admires Anne while concealing secrets of his own. As an escalating series of mishaps befalls her patient, Anne realizes someone is trying to kill the woman. But who? When Anne finds herself a suspect and her determination to avoid romance challenged, can she discover the real killer—and protect her heart—before it’s too late?

KyLee: Somehow the title did not prepare me for the secrets to include a murder plot. Anne has medical knowledge at her disposal. Why has she set her heart on remaining single?

A heroine committed to the single life

Julie: Women in that time period, in general, their main goal was to marry and marry well. There were not a lot of options for women. Anne has gotten a taste of helping others and having a greater purpose than marriage. She thinks that because she has a sister who married in an arranged marriage and is unhappy. That’s been her example.

Her young stepmother is trying to marry Anne off to completely inappropriate men. Men who are strangers, far too old, and not at all suitable. Men who want a wife and do not appreciate Anne’s qualities. She’s determined that marriage is not for her. In that time period, many marriages were more like business arrangements. She does not want to marry for those reasons. She does not want to give up helping others and using the knowledge she has. The men interested in her would expect her to give that up to be their wife.

KyLee: She found something she loves. Being pulled away from that would be heartbreaking.

Julie: In a different world, she would have loved to be a doctor, a physician, a surgeon. She is smart enough and capable enough, but that was not an option for women. This is as close as she can get.

The men in Anne’s orbit

KyLee: There seem to be several gentlemen of interest. Two nephews of Lady Celia, and a young doctor who admires Anne. Could you sketch a quick portrait of each?

Julie: Anne and her sisters spent summers in Painswick because her grandparents lived there. She knows the two grown nephews from her younger days.

One is very handsome and charming, and untrustworthy. Jude Dalby is the man her sister fell in love with years ago. His aunt said no, you are not going to marry this surgeon’s daughter with very little money. So Anne has resentment toward him. The other nephew is a former military man. They were friends. He takes a shine to her and vice versa, but it is more of a friendship. There are actually two doctors in the story. Both doctors have secrets. The one who takes an interest in Anne has other stuff going on, so he cannot be forthcoming right away. Anne has to review her plan for her life. Sometimes God has other plans. She has to reevaluate if there is a way for her to have both marriage and purpose.

KyLee: Which is the happily ever after we hope for.

Julie: When you read a Julie Klassen book, you are going to have a happily ever after. It’s pretty much guaranteed.

Gothic atmosphere, real legends, and place-based history

KyLee: Did this book uncover any new historical tidbits, or give you an opportunity to weave in detail you had not shared before?

Julie: There is poison involved, so I had to research those things. I love that the setting, Painswick, has real history I could weave in. The house I based it on is a real place with gothic legends surrounding it for generations. King Charles I stayed there, and people report seeing his ghost around the house and the adjacent churchyard. I am not that interested in ghosts except the Holy Spirit, but it is a well-known legend, and he really did stay in the house. The old house had jail cells in the basement because it used to be used as a courthouse. Prisoners were sent there. I love when I can take something real and weave it into the novel. I think it makes the world more believable and more real for readers.

KyLee: Especially when there is somewhere they can go. If you can’t go to England, you can use street view and at least have an idea of what it looks like.

Julie: Painswick has a beautiful church and a churchyard that is famous. It has 99 yew trees, and there is legend around it. If they plant another to make it 100, one of the other ones will die, and they will have to cut it down. I did not know yew has lore around it. It is a symbol for eternal life. It is also used for poison. I love to weave in that symbolism. You can Google it and see beautiful pictures.

KyLee: I did not know yew wood was poisonous either. That will be handy if it is part of the murder plot.

What’s next for Julie Klassen

KyLee: What is next for your writing, looking forward to 2026?

Julie: I turned in my draft for the 2026 novel. Most of my books have been standalone. Whispers at Painswick Court is a standalone, and the 2026 book is also a standalone. It’s not a murder mystery, per se, but it’s a romantic story set on the coast of North Cornwall. It has gothic elements, bumps in the night, rumors, smugglers, those kinds of good things. It’s more of a romance with those gothic elements.

It’s set to come out in December of 2026. The title is The Widow of Woodlark Cottage. It’s about a woman who rents Woodlark Cottage on this estate. There are a couple of men with different agendas and a lot of other things going on.

Connect with  Julie: Newsletter, Pinterest, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

In “The Lost Girl of Astor Street,” Stephanie Morrill combines a gusty heroine, chronic illness representation, a swoony detective, feuding mafia families, and raw emotion into a gripping YA mystery that’ll keep readers guessing till the very end.

Fans of first-person narratives will fall for Piper Sail’s vibrant voice that practically zings off the page. Determined and devoted, Piper is a compelling character sure to win readers’ hearts as they’re immersed in her dualistic world of Chicago amid the Roaring Twenties.

If you love to hunt for clues with gumshoes and amateur sleuths, join the search for The Lost Girl of Astor Street!

Read more about Stephanie at her website. (www.stephaniemorrill.com)

~ Angela Bell, author of A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

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