Jane Healey welcomes debut author Kayla Hardy to The Jane Healey Happy Hour to discuss The Quarter Queen, a historical fantasy set in 1840s New Orleans. Drawing on her background in Black folklore and Louisiana Creole history, Hardy explores the life and legend of Marie Laveau through a layered mother-daughter story that blends magic with real historical tensions. The conversation highlights how voodoo, Catholicism, and the realities of slavery intersect in the novel, as well as Hardy’s path from TV pilot to published book. Hardy also shares how she approached Marie as both a powerful figure and a flawed, human mother navigating a dangerous world.

Jane Healey welcomes back New York Times bestselling author Allison Pataki to discuss her new novel It Girl, inspired by the real-life story of Evelyn Nesbitt. From her rise out of poverty to becoming one of America’s first celebrities, Nesbitt’s life unfolds against the backdrop of the Gilded Age and the birth of modern fame. Pataki shares how she blended history with fiction to reclaim Evelyn’s voice, explores the darker side of early celebrity culture, and reflects on the enduring parallels between Nesbitt’s story and the treatment of women in the spotlight today.

In this episode of The Jane Healey Happy Hour, Jane Healey speaks with New York Times bestselling author Sadeqa Johnson about her new novel Keeper of Lost Children. Johnson shares the little-known history that inspired the book, including the real story of journalist and adoption advocate Mabel Grammer, who helped place more than 500 mixed-race “brown babies” born in post–World War II Germany into American homes.