Art of Living series: Helen Sheehy, Just Willa
The Not Old - Better Show
Paul Vogelzang
5 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s story begins in a barrel, and today’s show is brought to you by Daily Greens by Factor Form.
A woman named Willa Hardesty is burning trash in the backyard, muttering, “this is hell.” She’s angry, grieving, and standing on the edge of something big. She’s not famous. She’s not looking for glory. But her life—hard-earned and fully lived—just might stop you in your tracks.
🔹 Who tells the stories of women who “weren’t famous”—but should have been?
That question haunted author and biographer Helen Sheehy—until she turned it into her stunning debut novel, Just Willa.
📚 Just Willa follows the unforgettable Willa Hardesty, a Kansas farm girl who becomes a single mother, tenant farmer’s wife, and bootlegging cowboy’s partner. Her life brushes up against nearly every major event of the 20th century—from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression to the polio epidemic and rural electrification.
🎙️ On the latest episode of The Not Old Better Show, I sat down with Helen to talk about Willa—who’s based on her own mother—and the 20-year journey to bring this extraordinary “ordinary” woman to life. Sheehy’s years of biographical writing blend beautifully with her gift for dialogue, scene, and emotional depth.
🕯️ This is more than historical fiction—it’s an excavation of memory, family, and the deep ties between mothers and daughters. For our audience, especially those reflecting on their own legacy or wondering how to tell their family's stories, this episode hits home.
💬 We talk loss, resilience, farming, bootlegging—and the courage it takes to write what you don’t know, but feel in your soul.
📡 Listen now at: https://notold-better.com
#Storytelling #AuthorInterview #HistoricalFiction #PodcastRecommendation #WomensHistory #ArtOfLiving #NotOldBetter
Today’s show is brought to you by Daily Greens by Factor Form.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Not Old Better Show on radio and podcast. The show covering all things health, |
| 0:12.7 | wellness, culture, and more. The show for all of us who aren't old, were better. Each week |
| 0:18.1 | we'll interview superstars, experts, and ordinary people doing extraordinary |
| 0:22.8 | things, all related to this wonderful experience of getting better, not older. Now here's your |
| 0:28.7 | host, the award-winning Paul Vogelzang. Today's story begins in a barrel, and today's show is brought to you by Daily Greens by Factor Form. |
| 0:45.8 | A woman named Willa Hardesty is burning trash in the backyard, muttering, this is hell. |
| 0:52.3 | She's angry, grieving, and standing on the edge of something big. |
| 0:57.2 | She's not famous. She's not looking for glory, but her life, hard-earned and fully lived, |
| 1:03.6 | just might stop you in your tracks. Again, welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Art of Living |
| 1:09.2 | interview series. Our guest today is award-winning author Helen Sheehe. |
| 1:13.0 | She's a master biographer whose previous works brought legendary actresses like Eleanor Duce and Eva LaGalien back to life on the page. |
| 1:22.1 | But this time, Helen Sheehe turns her remarkable talent toward fiction and family. |
| 1:27.9 | Her debut novel just willa follows one unforgettable woman from the wheatfields of Oklahoma through |
| 1:35.0 | seven decades of American history. |
| 1:37.6 | It's inspired by Helen's own mother, a homesteader's daughter, a single mom, a bootlegging |
| 1:43.6 | cowboy's wife, and the kind of woman history often overlooks. |
| 1:48.7 | This isn't a tale of glitz and grandeur. |
| 1:52.2 | This is about the hard beauty of ordinary lives. |
| 1:55.4 | It's about surviving the dust bowl, losing loved ones, finding joy in a jar of canned peaches, and fighting |
| 2:03.6 | quietly, fiercely for your children's future. You'll hear Helen talk about walking the land |
| 2:10.4 | her mother worked, discovering secrets in small town newspapers, and how fiction allowed her to |
| 2:16.3 | answer the one question biography couldn't. Who was my mother, |
... |
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