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When Patti Callahan Henry started researching Beatrix Potter for her new book, she ran across a little know fact about the author who wrote “Peter Rabbit.”

As a child, Potter created her own coded language to prevent her mother from reading her diary.

“Isn’t that amazing?” Henry told the audience at Selma-Dallas County Public Library. “This young woman who was fighting against the scripture of Victorian England didn’t want her mom to know what she really thought about everything she was forced to do.”

That nugget of information completed turned Henry’s idea for her next book of historical fiction on its head. It led to a deep dive on authors who developed their own languages, and she then learned about Barbara Newhall Follett, a child prodigy who wrote and published “The House Without Windows.”

Telling her story

As Henry continued her research, she found out that Henry disappeared after an argument with her husband and walked out to never to be seen again.

This unsolved mystery was one of the seeds that led Henry to pen her latest book “The Story She Left Behind.” Henry said the book, which was released March 16, is her take on Follett’s mystery.

According to a synopsis of the book, author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham has disappeared off the coast of South Carolina and turned the “magical” life of her daughter, Clara Harrington, upside down.

“I took her (Follett’s) words to heart, and I wrote a story about her,” Henry said. “Now I have fictionalized it because I did not want to give a very real woman who I am trying to honor a false ending.”

Henry’s character has the same initials as Follett, and she has the same history until age 20.

“Barbara had a very sad life, a very unfulfilled potential life. And I wanted to give Bronwyn my character some years of happiness,” Henry said. “So their lives diverge at about 20 years old. And I give Bronwyn a husband and a child and a quiet life in the South until everything goes awry.”

Coming to Selma

This was the fourth of fifth time that Henry has visited the library for the Lunch at the Library program. A lot of that is due to Becky Nichols, director of the Selma-Dallas County Public Library.

“I always have time for Becky Nichols,” said Henry said. “I always love coming to the Selma library, and it’s important to support our local libraries. I feel like they are under attack right now, but libraries need our support.”

Henry suggested those who want to help the library to just stop in and see what’s going on.

“There’s so much more than just checking out a book,” Henry said. “They have programs just like this for everyone. The are such a valuable resource to the community. So please, come in, volunteer and get behind your library.”