Jennie Coughlin first won awards for her coverage of small towns in Massachusetts while working at community newspapers there, and now uses a different kind of storytelling to showcase life in fictional Exeter, Massachusetts. In addition to her work as a reporter, editor and columnist at small newspapers, she was Virginia’s USA TODAY correspondent for a few years.
The flavor of small college towns with lots of history and strong arts communities comes through in her stories about Exeter, a small mill town in the Blackstone Valley. The name is a nod to her hometown’s history, but Exeter isn’t based on Franklin or any of the other small towns she’s lived in — reality in those places is far too unbelievable to make good fiction.
If you check out the Exeter Ledger page, you’ll find Q&A profiles with some of the Exeter residents, plus pieces exploring various places in Exeter.
E-mail: jenniecoughlin28@gmail.com
Twitter: @jenniecoughlin
HI, Jennie. For a brief moment, I thought you meant the Exeter in the southwest of England, rather than the fictional place you’ve invented
I’ve been to the real Exeter and it is a lovely city but I’m sure that your Exeter would be a much more interesting place to live.
I love “To Kill a Mockingbird” too
There are a couple of Exeters in New England, too, but not Massachusetts. My hometown was *supposed* to be called Exeter, but the town fathers decided to name it after Ben Franklin instead. So I stole the name for my fictional town.
Fair enough. If we are lucky enough and everything goes according to plan, we’ll be visiting New England next year. Fingers crossed. In the meantime, I’ll have to be content with reading about it
Iam the resident of a small Massachusetts town and I am really loving htis blog. Can’t wait to read oyur book
Thanks! I’ve had several people ask me if Exeter really is a town in Mass., so I think I’ve succeeded in making it realistic. I’ll be curious to hear your take once you read it. Amazon has the Kindle edition on sale for 99 cents right now.
I also wondered if you were more local to me, as I live about 20 miles from Exeter in South West England.
My Exeter’s fictional, set in Massachusetts in the U.S. So no, not local to you. But I hope you try the books and see what you think of the fictional Exeter.