Sweet Fields Beyond is Nancy Johnston Hall’s debut novel.

For her first novel, Nancy chose to write a fictionalized version of her own ancestors’ stories who were among the first to settle in the Blackhawk Territory—present-day Iowa. An evocative letter passed down in her family from the real Louisa Evans, her great-great-grandmother, inspired the literate, introspective voice of her fictional Louisa’s journal. 

Because she’s happiest when she’s in her creative zone, Nancy retired reluctantly from her career as an award-winning medical journalist and documentary filmmaker. As co-owner of a health communication company—her dream job—she wrote everything from brochures and books to television PSAs, documentary scripts, billboard slogans, on and on. When she and her husband moved from Minnesota to North Carolina, she found a new form of writing—personal essays. When she ran out of “life” to write about, her writing group suggested she try fiction. Oh my goodness, as her protagonist, Louisa, would say—is she happy she followed their advice. Nancy now lives in the deep woods near Chapel Hill with her husband and has begun a second novel about England and Paris during the 1920 and 30s.