The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
High school teacher writes what he knows
GREENWICH — As a Greenwich High School history teacher, Michael Belanger has had a frontrow seat to the raw emotions, struggles and triumphs of young people for nearly a decade.
“I’m around teenage issues all day,” the Stamford man said.
So you could say his day job was a major influence on his debut novel, “The History of Jane Doe” (Dial, 2018), due in bookstores everywhere on June 5.
More than four years in the making, the young adult story centers on 17-year-old history buff Ray and his best friend Simon — both of whom are floored when the cooler-than-thou new girl at school chooses the hapless pair as her new tribe.
The unlikely trio settles into a junior year they’ll never forget, complete with memorable escapades in Simon’s mom’s minivan, bizarre small-town lore about carnivorous green cow sightings and first love. Sprinkled with humor and warmth, the book also tackles the stark reality of mental health and teen depression.
Shining a light on the oftsecret emotional lives of teenagers was one of the reasons Belanger wrote the book. Looking back at his own high school experience and at his students,’ he realized many teenagers don’t have the tools they need to deal with mental health issues in themselves and their friends.
“Everyone knows someone who is depressed or they’ve been depressed themselves,” he said. “I’ve seen it first hand, and I’ve seen it in a lot of different ways.”
Trying to love someone who is depressed can be highly frustrating, as Belanger shows through Ray and Jane’s complicated relationship. “It’s ‘I want you to feel better. Why won’t you feel better?’ ” said Belanger, who added a therapist character to show his young readers the value of having someone to talk to in such situations.
“The History of Jane Doe” is told in a nonlinear fashion that hopscotches through time, giving the reader a chance to both anticipate events and gain new wisdom from hindsight
A graduate of Fordham University, Belanger first thought he’d be an English major, but another light went off when he took a course on antiquities at the University of San Francisco. He fell in love with the idea of writing within the world of history.
While he has already written two other novels that he doubts will ever be published, nothing could prepare him for the rigor of writing a book and then seeing it through to publication. Teaching full time, he decided to carve out a few hours each day after work to write.
“I didn’t have a life,” Belanger said. “But I thought, if I don’t do this now, I’m never going to do it.”