I wrote the first two chapters of a novel about a French Jewish girl who had to leave her home and hide in a boarding school during the Holocaust. This story was inspired by my  great-great-grandmother, Therese Bletry Monnot. She owned a boarding school for children with respiratory diseases in Malbuisson, France during World War II. During my research process, I learned about the Holocaust in France,  Jewish holidays and traditions, the geography and history of France, WWII, and how to write a novel. I also worked with my grandmother to find pictures of Therese and the school where the children stayed. I used my research to write the start of a story about a nine-year-old girl named Rachel.