Rereading "Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness," I was struck by Lucy Dillon's courage and intelligence.

Yet what impressed me above all was her love for her husband despite the dire difficulties of their lives.

I realized I had endowed my heroine with a love of my own.

I am rereading one of my own books, which has recently been republished by Open Road: Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness. It is based on the life of the Marquise de la Tour du Pin, an Irishwoman who married a French marquis and escaped the French Revolution of 1789, thanks to her great courage. It was she who obtained the permits to leave France from Tallien, the fierce revolutionary. The family sailed from France in a one-masted boat, going to Boston during the winter months with their two small........

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