Jansje, an Unlikely Heroine My book, Stranger Friends was the first story I felt compelled to write after I raised my five children. I was the only surviving member of my family who remembered how my parents invited social misfits, men and women of diverse nationalities and backgrounds and handicapped people to our home. I have been carrying this second story in my head and heart since I was a teenager. I inherited The Autograph Book from my mother, Anna, who received it from her mother, Jansje. Though I never met my grandmother, I came to love and admire her through my mother's vivid storytelling.