Hey, before we get started with this episode, I wanted to let folks know about some upcoming

appearances in the Midwest and New York City. I'm doing four Midwestern book events in May,

one on Monday the 12th. I will be in Minneapolis at Moon Palace Books. On the 13th, I will be in the

Cincinnati area right over the border in Erlander, Kentucky at the Central Library. On the 14th, the Golden Hour Books in Indianapolis.

And then on the 15th in Chicago, it's city-lit books.

And in June, on June 13th, I will be doing a special one-time-only live show at the Tribeca Audio Festival.

This is going to be based around my audiobook and it's going to include performances

from two of its readers, Carrie Coon and Lily Taylor. I'm super excited about this. Find links to

those events at the memory palace.us slash event. And if you are interested in coming to the

New York or Chicago events, you might want to act quickly on those because spots are limited.

This is the memory palace. I'm Nate DeMaio.

There was the time when Francis was seven and told her mother that she wanted to plant a garden

behind their big brick mansion in the woods outside Boston. And her mother said,

of course, gardening was a fine

pastime for a girl, but Fron, she said, the girl's name was pronounced with the moneyed mid-Atlantic

accent of a Catherine Hepburn or George Plympton or Mrs. Howell from Gilligan's Island.

But Fron, her mother said, the staff will dig the holes. Your job as somebody who will someday run a

household is to instruct the help as to where you'd like to plant the flowers and how. And then later,

if you'd like to cut some of those flowers for an arrangement, to brighten up the parlor, to bring

some cheer to the landing in the grand staircase. Why, by all means, enjoy. Just be sure to

wear a proper pair of white gloves to keep your hands free of dirt. But Francis loved the dirt.

Love bugs and birds and tadpoles. Her mother once nearly fainted when one of the servants poured out

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