Mary E. Trimble

Norske Fields: A Novel of Southern California’s Norwegian Colony by Anne Schroeder brings to life the struggles and joys of Norwegian immigrants as they become part of the American fabric. The story takes place from 1884 through 1957.

Nils Uren, together with four bachelor friends and the sister of one of the friends, leave Norway for America, the promised land. None of them are their families’ eldest sons and therefore will not inherit family land in Norway. America’s spacious land brings promise for farming and growth.

The group set sail from Norway to London, board a train to Liverpool, then board a ship bound for New York. From New York they travel 12 days by train to Sacramento. They end up in the Conejo Valley, a region in Southern California. The area where the families settle becomes known as the Norwegian Colony.

The friends purchase 650 acres and split the land between them, agreeing to payments over a period of seven years. They work hard on this raw land, coaxing crops from the virgin soil, and building rough living spaces. All the work is done by manual labor until they can afford work horses and more efficient tools, but they persist. They also work at becoming American citizens, taking American-sounding names and learning English.

Each works hard to keep the others from discouragement. Small kindnesses to one another remind them of their blessings. They are a people used to scrimping and they find creative ways to make life joyous. Their land is a constant reminder of God’s provision. American ways and its inherent freedoms are precious to the group.

The story mainly centers on Nils Uren and his wife, Ellen, and their children, but includes all the families with their struggles and successes in the new land.

In Norske Fields author Anne Schroeder brings to life the fictional account of her ancestral Norwegian family. Her exquisite descriptions of the land and people kept me turning the pages of this fascinating account of early America and its blending of people and ideals.

Book Review: My Dear Hamilton

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Mary

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, is an epic story written in the voice of Alexander Hamilton’s wife.

The novel covers the period of 1777 through 1837. Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of a general, grows up in colonial North America during the American Revolution. When she meets a young officer, Alexander Hamilton, she’s captivated by his charisma and brilliance and falls in love despite his perceived shameful bastard birth and the uncertainties of war.

Elizabeth, or Eliza, as she prefers to be called, finds herself in the thick of war, ugly politics, even scandal. Hamilton is revered by many, but also has powerful political enemies. The Hamiltons joyfully celebrate the inauguration of George Washington, the nation’s first president. The two main political parties of the day are the Federalists, President Washington’s party, created largely by Alexander Hamilton, and the rival Republican party, formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

The Hamiltons have several children and Eliza works hard as a wife and mother. Although many in high office have slaves, the Hamiltons firmly believe in the concept of the Constitution, that all men are created equal, applies to all, including slaves and women. They believe slavery is cruel, a sin against God, and a betrayal to the principles of the revolution. Eliza not only makes due with their meager finances, she helps her husband with his speeches and social obligations. They have a loving and supportive marriage.

When a sex scandal encroaches her own home, Eliza struggles through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness. She is a strong woman, a woman of passion and principles. Eliza finds the strength to face the humiliation, the gossip mongers, the cruel newspaper accusations. Eliza is an inspiration, an American legacy in her own right.

My Dear Hamilton is a large volume—672 pages—that held my fascinated attention throughout. I learned so much about the attitudes and conditions of our nation’s early years. Alexander Hamilton was a remarkable man. He fought and helped win a war, raising to the rank of general. He was instrumental in building a federal government. He created a coast guard, a national bank, and devised a scheme of taxation that held the states together. He was brilliant, but flawed, as Eliza was to learn. I loved reading about our country’s early days and I appreciate even more what it took to establish our great nation.

Book Review: Last Bus to Wisdom

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Mary

Ivan Doig’s (1939 – 2015) last novel, Last Bus to Wisdom, is a story to cherish. Donal Cameron, 11, is being raised by his grandmother since both his parents were killed in an automobile accident. For the last several years, Grandma has been a cook at a large Montana ranch, but in the summer of 1951 she needs serious surgery and must make temporary arrangements for Donal to stay with his Aunt Kate and Uncle Herman in Wisconsin.

Donal travels by dog bus (aka Greyhound) and along the way meets interesting fellow passengers, people who fire Donal’s active imagination. He arrives in Wisconsin to a rude surprise: Aunt Kate is bossy, narrow-minded and tyrannical. Henpecked Uncle Herman hangs out in his greenhouse most of the day, avoiding her. Although Donal tries to behave, his actions don’t suit Aunt Kate and she sends him back to Montana. Never mind that with his grandmother in the hospital, he no doubt will be placed in an orphanage, at least temporarily. Downcast, he had just settled in on the bus for the long trip home when to his surprise and amazement finds Uncle Herman as his seat mate.

The two, Donal and Uncle Herman, manage to have adventures and misadventures along the way. As it happens, Uncle Herman has a fascination for the west, and Donal knows and loves ranch life and is more than happy to share his knowledge with Uncle Herman. Now together, as they travel, they stop to take in a rodeo, an Indian pow-wow, and camp in Yellowstone National Park. Eventually they find themselves broke and desperate, but finally catch the last bus to Wisdom, Montana to hopefully find work on a ranch.

Last Bus to Wisdom is a marvelous story. Ivan Doig’s characterization is impeccable. He knew the American West, particularly Montana, and his vivid descriptions of landscape, the economic times and people are realistic. Every chapter is packed with fun incidents and surprises. I loved this book and highly recommend it to readers of all ages.

Book Review: The Tumor

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Mary

John Grisham, known for his legal thrillers, made a detour in The Tumor: A Non-legal Thriller. It’s very short—74 printed pages—though I read it on my Kindle.

The story begins with Paul, born in 1980 and now 35 years old, his wife, Karen, and their children. The family lives a normal, busy life. Paul is healthy, active, doesn’t smoke and takes no medication.

One day Paul suddenly experiences a grand-mal seizure and is rushed to the hospital. In looking back, Paul and Karen realize that he has been gradually showing unusual symptoms. He has headaches, has difficulty concentrating at work, becomes irritable, and at times experiences blurred vision.

Tests reveal that Paul has a brain tumor about the size of an egg, a type known as a glioma. Surgery is the only solution and the operation takes about three hours. Gliomas are graded one through four, with one and two benign; three and four malignant. Paul’s is a four and his chances of survival for more than five years are slim. Grisham goes into some detail about the actual surgery, the findings, the recovery, the recurring symptoms and the grim prognosis.

Had Paul been born in 1990 and diagnosed with the brain tumor at age 35, his story could be rewritten. With focused ultrasound technology, it is possible to have a non-invasive therapeutic treatment that will improve outcomes and decrease the cost of care. In addition to brain tumor treatment, focused ultrasound treatment is in development to treat many other diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and tumors of the liver, pancreas and lung.

John Grisham believes this book is the most important he’s ever written. He is an active member of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation (https://www.fusfoundation.org/). The Foundation’s mission is “To accelerate the development and adoption of focused ultrasound.” The book refers the reader to different aspects of the foundation’s functions to find treatment centers, learn about clinical trials, and how to become active in the support of the foundation and its goals.

I found The Tumor, published 2016, enlightening and well-written. I admire the author’s departure from writing best-selling legal thrillers to applying his impressive talent toward furthering a technology aimed at saving or improving lives.

Book Review: Death in the Time of Pancho Villa

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Mary

Death in the Time of Pancho Villa, a novel by Sandra Marshall, blends the Mexican Revolution’s real-life people and facts together with compelling fictional characters and situations. The story takes place in the Texas/Mexico border town of El Paso, 1911.

Rose Westmoreland travels by train from Ohio in search of her missing husband, Leonard. His well-to-do parents are disapproving of a woman traveling alone, but Rose must know what has happened, good or bad. All Rose knows is that Leonard, an accountant, was sent to El Paso by his employer to audit the company books, and a short time later he disappeared.

Rose is fortunate to find a woman’s boarding house where she is befriended by the owner and another guest, a young Mexican expatriate. The three women plot together how Rose might find her husband. The further she delves into the mystery, the more complicated and dangerous the situation becomes. As it happens, Rose’s arrival coincides with a critical Mexican revolutionary battle that takes place in Juárez, directly across the Rio Grande River.

Rose’s investigation gets even more puzzling when it appears her husband’s reason for being there was far more complicated than auditing books. Drilling rights among competing international oil companies enter the fray and Rose’s situation becomes even more dire as she gets closer to the truth.

I very much enjoyed Death in the Time of Pancho Villa, the first in “A Rose in Old El Paso” series. The author weaves historical people and events into a realistic, captivating mystery. When I’m reading fiction, I always enjoy learning more about real- life characters and the author’s portrayal of Francisco “Pancho” Villa, a Mexican revolutionary general, made me want to learn more about him.

Book Review: All that Remains

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Mary

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful, It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
–Isaac Asimov

All that Remains, by Sue Black, is an absorbing memoir on death, mortality, and solving crimes, a renowned forensic scientist. Among her many accomplishments, she has served as Director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Black’s experience working in a butcher shop as a school girl in Inverness, Scotland, piqued her interest in how bodies work. She shares her early college experiences and how she learned the priceless lesson that there is much the living can learn from the dead. The author is an enthusiastic proponent of people donating their bodies after death so that others may learn.

The author has used her forensic expertise in solving high-profile crimes as well as identifying bodies of missing people. She was the lead forensic anthropologist for the British team’s work in the 1999 war crimes investigations in Kosovo, helping to organize and identify bodies buried in mass graves. She goes into some detail about the terrible acts against humanity in this horrific conflict. The author also worked in Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. She has appeared in court, giving testimony about the scientific facts surrounding crimes, and also speaks on radio and television about her experience as a forensic scientist. Black shares these experiences in honest detail, acknowledging that not everyone can tolerate this information, but insisting that knowledge allows people to come to grips with the deaths of their loved ones, especially those who have been missing for a period of time.

I strongly recommend All that Remains. It’s an informative account of life and death written not only by someone who has enormous experience, but one who has compassion and understanding. The author shows her gentle humor when working in the field, often being the only woman on a team, of dealing with extreme heat, or freezing cold. She is adept in making scientific data understandable to the layman. Not everyone is comfortable with this subject, but I appreciated Black’s unapologetic look at death and immortality, and how knowledge of death can help us accept the inevitable.

Book Review: All Too Human

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Mary

Karen Wills’ memorable novel, All Too Human: A Saga of Deadly Deceptions and Dark Desires, takes place in 1905, Montana.

Rebecca Bryan is a lawyer in partnership with her beloved Uncle Max. Uncle Max has asked Rebecca to go to the home of an old friend, Lucinda Cale, recently deceased, to locate the woman’s last will and testament and to help Lucinda’s family sort out her estate. Rebecca travels from their home in Kalispell, Montana to Cale’s home, a rustic wilderness hunting lodge near the Montana boomtown of Jennings.

After a harrowing trip in a blizzard, she finally arrives to find a family not necessarily mourning the matriarch as much as one who seems relieved to be without the old woman’s demands. Except for Amy. Lucinda’s thirteen year-old granddaughter was close to her grandmother, but is distant and disdainful to others, especially to Rebecca. Lucinda Cale’s oldest son Damon is friendly to Rebecca and grateful that she would try to help them find his mother’s will. Claudia, Damon’s gentle, pregnant wife, welcomes Rebecca, as does their little son, Teddy. Also with the family is Bretton, Lucinda’s mysterious, moody second son, who is there only for the funeral.

In searching for the will, Rebecca comes across Lucinda’s hidden diaries, journals that cover many years, starting in 1866. They tell of a young woman finding freedom from family scandals and poverty when she marries dashing, wealthy Garrett Cale. She describes their journey from St. Louis to the Northwest mining country in Montana. But the young woman’s life becomes one of physical and emotional abuse and dark deceptions. Lucinda becomes a schemer using her beauty to control those around her, actions that eventually affect her children and grandchildren.

Author Karen Wills captures Montana’s wilderness with breath-taking prose. Her characters are believable in their strengths, weaknesses, vulnerability and violent actions. I thoroughly enjoyed All Too Human.

Washington’s Treasure: Deception Pass State Park

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Mary

Looking west from Deception Pass State Park

Among the many Washington treasures are its state parks. We recently camped using our truck and camper at Deception Pass State Park. The park spreads over 3,854 acres and includes both saltwater shoreline and three lakes. Located in northwest Washington, the park has three campgrounds: Cranberry Lake and Quarry Pond Campgrounds located on Whidbey Island to the south and Bowman Bay on Fidalgo Island to the north. The two islands are connected by a pair of bridges known collectively as Deception Pass Bridge.

Campsites offer ocean, mountain, forest, or lake views. Visitor facilities include utility sites with water and electricity, and tent sites. All camping spaces are equipped with a picnic table and fire ring.

In addition to superb camping, the park offers services for water activities which include two docks, boat launches and moorage. Boating, kayaking, freshwater and saltwater fishing, crabbing, swimming, and SCUBA diving are among the many water activities enjoyed at the park.

The park offers 38 miles of hiking trails through lush forest lands and along shorelines. In addition, there are 1.2 miles of ADA hiking trails, 3 miles of bike trails, and 6 miles of horse trails.

Besides soaking in nature’s bounty in our spacious site at Cranberry Lake Campground, we enjoyed a morning drive north to Anacortes, known for the Washington State Ferries dock and terminal serving San Juan Islands as well as Victoria, British Columbia. Another day we drove south to Coupeville, the county seat of Island County, and the second oldest community in Washington. Nearby Keystone is also the jumping off point via ferry to the Olympic Peninsula.

From many places in the park, visitors can see work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. At the Bowman Bay campground a CCC building was renovated in 1987 that exhibits the incredible story of the CCC’s work across the State of Washington during the Great Depression.

We recently purchased a Washington State Park off-season senior citizen pass for $75. This pass entitles pass holders to free camping and moorage between October 1 and March 31, as well as Sundays through Thursdays in April. Our three-day camping trip to Deception Pass State Park paid for this pass, so for the rest of the season our camping will be free.

Deception Pass State Park, open all year, is one of Washington’s most popular parks. Reservations are highly recommended (www.parks.state.wa.us or call (888) CAMPOUT to make reservations).

Book Review: The Reapers’ Song

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Mary

Lauraine Snelling’s novel, The Reapers’ Song, the fourth book of the “Red River of the North” series, takes place in Dakota Territory and covers the period 1885 – 1886.

Blessings, Dakota Territory, is beginning to prosper from the hard work of the Norwegian homesteaders. The railroad helps bring business to the little town, and the surrounding farms are producing crops and livestock.

Ingeborg and Haakan, their children and neighbors, many of whom are relatives, work long, hard hours. Some still live in sod houses; others are fortunate to have wood-framed homes. The stock and harvest must come first, and it is a steady grind to eke out their living.

Haakan and neighboring farmers have managed to acquire a steam engine with a separator to harvest wheat. A team of men take the separator on the road, threshing for other homesteaders in return for a portion of their grain. While the men are gone, their fields remain idle, and Ingeborg worries about all the work to be done before the harsh winter sets in. She decides to take over some of the field work in her husband’s absence. But her plan backfires and causes unimagined pain.

The Blessing community is grounded in deep faith. Without thinking of their own inconvenience, they help neighbors, welcome strangers into their homes, and do whatever is necessary for the good of all.

The author paints vivid pictures of the vast Dakota prairie, the dinginess of a house built of sod, the blessing of a church with a pastor, and the treasure of a school. She skillfully describes clothes, equipment, and attitudes of the period, and shows how faith and dedication help the immigrants thrive. I am enjoying the “Red River of the North” series and look forward to the two remaining books.

Book Review: Tinsmith 1865

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Mary

Sara Dahmen’s historical fiction, Tinsmith 1865, is a skillfully written account of tin and coppersmiths in the years following the Civil War. But more than that, it’s a story of a woman who doesn’t fit into the expected mold of that era.

Marie Kotiarczyk, 18, together with her recently widowed father and two brothers, travel by wagon train from Chicago to Flats Town, Dakota Territory. The Polish immigrant family are tinsmiths. Although Marie is fascinated by their occupation, her place is doing woman’s work. Unfortunately, she is not a good cook, nor does she have interest in any phase of womanly duties. What fascinates Marie is her family’s occupation.

They arrive in Flats Town to a shop her father has previously arranged to rent, a shop that will double as their home. Marie assumes her expected duties, but occasionally tinkers in the family profession. When her brothers join the Army to fight the Indian wars, Marie and her father are devastated. Marie steps in to help with the family business, fulfilling her deep-harbored dream, but also fearing not only failure, but breaking expectations of what a woman should do. When her father is stricken with illness, she must take over to fill the orders.

Marie has many worries. Will the townspeople take her occupation seriously? Her skills are in demand—will she be able to produce a worthy product? Will the cups she produces leak? Will the kitchen utensils she creates be things of beauty? When the Army places a large order, Marie is under pressure to show what she is capable of doing. She must succeed to pay their many debts.

I loved this book. The author portrays complex characters rich with desires and dedication to work. Her characters have scarred and calloused hands with grime under their fingernails; their clothes have holes due to sparks from creating their product. They’re not beautiful people, yet they’re appealing. I particularly appreciated learning about the tin and coppersmith profession. The author speaks with authority on that subject as she works as a metalsmith of vintage and modern cookware of tin, copper and iron.

Tinsmith 1865 is Book 1 of the “Flats Junction Series,” and is also currently in production to become a major motion picture. I’m looking forward to more of this series and to seeing it played out on screen.