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Rural Route
Bookstore
An
online-only bookstore featuring books about
Rural
and Small Town Life
and
the
History, Heritage and Humor of Scandinavian-Americans
Novels
and Stories
Historical
Novels
The Abercrombie Trail Series by Candace Simar
There are
four books in this wonderful series, and I honestly couldn't put the
books down. Simar, a life-long Minnesotan and grandchild of immigrants,
has combined her love of history with her Scandinavian heritage, and
has done impeccable research. This evident in these new award-winning
books of historical fiction in which Simar tells the story of
Scandinavian immigrants in early Minnesota during the 1862 Sioux
Uprising.
The first book, Abercrombie Trail,
tells the story of Evan Jacobson, a stagecoach driver, who witnesses
the Sioux Uprising as he drives his route between Fort Snelling and
Fort Abercrombie. The second, Pomme de Terre,
focuses on Serena and Gust who lose everything in the uprising, and
relocate to Fort Pomme de Terre in the western part of the state. It
also includes a Dakota point of view and the tragic story of broken
treaties and eviction from their homeland. Birdie,
the third book, continues the story of Evan and Inga eleven years later
during the 1870s grasshopper plagues, and is named after a character
who was kidnapped during the 1862 Sioux Uprising. This book received
the 2012 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Blooming Prairie,
the fourth and final novel in this series, was released September 2012,
and continues the story of characters from previous books. I want more,
a fifth book! The series also has study guides for book clubs.
Abercrombie Trail: A Novel of the 1862 Uprising
AUTOGRAPHED
I -14 Paperback $14.95
|
Pomme de Terre: A Novel of the Minnesota Uprising
AUTOGRAPHED
I - 15 Paperback $14.95 |
Birdie: Book Three of the Abercrombie Trail Series
AUTOGRAPHED
I - 16 Paperback $14.95 |
Blooming Prairie: Book Four of the Abercrombie Trail Series
AUTOGRAPHED
I - 17 Paperback $14.95 |
SPECIAL:
Buy all four at a discounted price I -
18
Paperbacks $54.00 AUTOGRAPHED

Homesteaders Series: Four books about a Norwegian Immigrant Family by Esther Allen Peterson
The four books in this series gave me yet another fix for my Norwegian
Immigration appetite. These delightful books, are perfect for
those interested in light reading about immigrants and early Minnesota.
Peterson, another Minnesota-based author, writes about the
Ytterhorn/Olson families and their adventures and trials as they leave
their homes in Norway, make the voyage to America, and settle in Dakota
Territory.
In the first book, A Long Journey to a New Home,
the reader follows the Ytterhorns from their decision to leave Norway
to packing the America trunk to establishing "a place of their own"
near Breckenridge, MN. The second book (Will Spring Come?),
which begins in May 1868, has changes in the original immigrant family
and follows them to Dakota to claim land. After breaking sod, planting
wheat, and building a log house, they are joined by the Olson family
who just came from Norway. In the third book, The House That Cared,
the two main families — who have been through much already — are faced
with the realities of life and politics on the the prairie. The Reformation of Grandmother Hulda, the final book, brings yet more changes to the families' structures as they adjust to life in the New World.
A Long Journey to a New Home
AUTOGRAPHED
I -24 Paperback $9.95
|
Will Spring Come?
AUTOGRAPHED
I - 25 Paperback $9.95
|
The House That Cared
AUTOGRAPHED
I -26 Paperback $9.95
|
The Reformation of Grandmother Hulda
AUTOGRAPHED
I - 27 Paperback $9.95
|
SPECIAL:
Buy all four at a discounted price I -
28
Paperbacks $35.00 AUTOGRAPHED
Grass of
the
Earth by
Aagot Raaen
First
written in the early 50s, this book has been republished by popular
demand.
One isn't sure where nonfiction leaves off and fiction begins, but my
brother-in-law
in the Northwood, North Dakota area recognizes the names and places
described.
The book recounts the settling of the Red River Valley from the late
1880s.
I
- 03 Paperback $15.95
The Emigrants
by Johan
Bojer
This
is the Norwegian version of emigration to homesteads in North Dakota.
Written
in 1925 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian emigration, the
book was, and perhaps still is, required reading in "Grad School."
I
- 08 Paperback $12.95
The
Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg
Considered
one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg
chronicled
the joys and tragedies of Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson's lives
as early Swedish pioneers in America. First published between
1949
and 1959 in Swedish, the four books were considered a single work by
Moberg,
who intended that they be read as documentary novels. Book 1 introduces
Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their three young children, and eleven
others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty,
religious
persecution, and social oppression of Småland in 1850.
I
- 09-1 Paperback $17.95
each

The
Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
2 opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York
City.
Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by
riverboat,
steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chisago County.
I
- 09-2 Paperback $17.95
each
Unto
a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
3 focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new
homeland
and struggle to survive on their new farm.
I
- 09-3 Paperback $17.95
each
The
Last Letter Home by Vilhelm Moberg
Book
4 portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of the Civil War and
Dakota
Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota's growing
Swedish
community of the 1860s-90s.
I
- 09-4 Paperback $17.95
each
Ole
Edvart Rølvaag
Ole
E.
Rølvaag immigrated to the U. S. in 1896 from
Dønne, an island in
the North Atlantic, where his ancestors had
been fishermen and seafaring people for
generations. Rølvaag, too, was a fisherman for several years as
part of the
family operation.
studying for a year at
the However,
at the age of 20 — after little formal education — he emigrated to
South Dakota to work on his uncle's
farm and
attend Augustana College. He next attended St. Olaf College where he
received his BA
degree,
and returned to NorwayUniversity of Olso.
Returning
to America in 1906, Rølvaag
joined the faculty
of St. Olaf's College. Two years later became a U.S. citizen. During
his
teaching years
he began chronicling the lives of Norwegian immigrants.
His
works have been described as realistic portrayals of Norwegian settlers
on the
Dakota prairies, but also called "grimly pessimistic." Unlike many
writers of immigrant novels, Rølvaag's focus was not only on the
hardships of
farming and adjusting to a new country and a new language, but also on
the
clash of cultures and the loss one's values.
Of his
many books — all written in his native language — most of his works
have been
translated into English and several in other languages.
Rølvaag is most
famous for his epic trilogy that was considered by the Nation magazine
as
"the fullest, finest and most powerful novel that has been written
about
pioneer life in America." Giants in the
Earth is the most famous of all of Rølvaag's novels.
Giants
in the Earth
by Ole Rølvaag
Subtitled
"The Saga of the Prairie," Rølvaag's award-winning Giants
in the
Earth, was written in 1927. This classic about the lives of Per and
Berit Hansa
describes the hardships common to settlers from hunger to severe
weather issues
to grasshopper plagues and finally to Berit's insanity.
PF
- 01 $14.95
Peder
Victorious
by Ole
Rølvaag
Written
in 1929, Peder Victorious, subtitled "A Tale of the Pioneers Twenty
Years
Later," is the second book in this trilogy and brings the immigrants
into
the twentieth century. For Rølvaag's second generation
of
"vikings of the prairie," the
battle against the land has been won, but they are faced with a second
struggle
— to adapt and become Americans.
PF - 02 $19.95
Their Fathers'
God
by Ole
Rølvaag
Their
Fathers' God, the final book in the trilogy, was written in 1931, and
the
emphasis is on intense and dramatic projections of the Minnesota and
Dakota prairies and
the whole
westward movement in America.
Against
a backdrop of hard times and mixed feelings brought on by the Populist
and anti-monopolist movements occurring in America,
Rølvaag's characters
must now deal with social and business schemers and ruthless
competition in the
midst of scarcity. The immediate issue facing the family now is typical
of yet
another struggle facing many families at that time as they tried to
deal with
the drought and the Great Depression — religious faith, skepticism
about it, or
a lack of it.
PF
- 03 $19.95
The
Boat of Longing
by Ole
Rølvaag (Not part of the Trilogy)
This
novel, written in 1921, was intended to be the first book in
Rølvaag's trilogy.
It follows some of the same themes Rølvaag used in his other
books (a young
fisherman leaving Norway to seek his fortune in America and the human
cost of
moving to a new land) along with themes of hardships used by many
authors of
immigration stories: the long and unpleasant voyage, aching
homesickness,
fierce elements of nature, and the difficulties of trying to succeed in
a new
country — especially when one doesn't understand the language or
culture.
However,
unlike Rølvaag's other works, this story takes place in an urban
setting (Minneapolis, and more specifically
the area
Minnesotans refer to as "Snooze Boulevard") where temptations
abound,
and the struggles differ from those on the prairie. When this
book became
available in English in 1933, it received wide praise from literary
critics in America. The Christian Science Monitor
referred to it as "a poem rather than a novel," and felt the book
contained "sustained beauty of expression." Of all his novels, The
Boat of Longing was Rølvaag's favorite.
PF - 04
$13.95
Erling Nicolai
Rolfsrud's
Stories
More
books by Rolfsrud are found here.
Gopher
Tails
for Papa R - 01 $8.95
This book was used in grades 4
through 8 in North Dakota schools. Rolfsrud's most widely read
book, it has recently been reprinted by Popular demand.
Boy
from Johnny Butte R
1- 02 $8.95
Touching characterizations of a time gone by: courtship, first
automobile in Johnny Butte, hero worship, etc.
Cutbank
Girl R 1- 03 $8.95
Immigrant homesteaders speak only
Norwegian causing interesting situations. Writings about
children's games, escapades, school and work.
Petticoat
Pioneer R 1- 04 $10.95
A novel inspired by Rolfrud's immigrant mother. Fiction
based upon experiences of single women and widows who homesteaded,
often beginning in sod huts.
Stone
Johnny School R 1- 05 $8.95
Rolfsrud's experiences as a one-room schoolhouse teacher with
comments on the "Palmer Method" and the potbellied stove.
Girl
of the Tumbleweeds R1- 06 $8.95
When no Christmas tree can be found, the indomitable Dikka
comes up with a solution.
Flickertail
Stories R 1- 07 $8.95
Master storytelling about the 'spunky men and women' who left
their mark on the Territory and State of North Dakota.
Order
by using the 'Place an Order' form or you
may order by
phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'
All Caragana Press
products are
available at wholesale prices to qualified retailers, organizations,
churches, schools, and libraries. Call 800 494-9124 for details.
Copyright
© 2003
RRBS. All rights reserved.
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