A Readers Group Guide

Iron Pants is based on the life of my mother Josephine. I have created the younger Josephine, and her three sisters, Betty, Pamela and Nora Ann, based on my memories, research and family stories. I have used lots of imagination in covering the one-year period between the Duke sisters loss of their mother and their settling into the life of their rural North Carolina orphanage.  

I deeply know my mother’s story and have added her adult voice to the narrative—as well as my own. As I say in the story, your mother lives within you even after she has died. There are those who say that “iron pants” run in the family.  What absolutely runs in the family is a belief in the power of story to create both understanding and change. Storytelling is used throughout the story and I hope encourages readers to get in touch with their own stories. 

As a librarian, I have worked with books and stories for the past 45 years. As a daughter, I have lived with them my entire life. For you as a reader, I want you to know that it took me seven years from the time I began this novel until it was published in 2022. It is my first work of fiction and was published when I was 75 years old. I doubt that I will write another novel, but I am convinced that I had to tell this story. I hope the questions provided will help your group understand more about the need for this story and encourage you to tell the stories within your family and life that need telling. 

Happy Reading — Elaine