Laurel Hill and her precocious daughter Skye have always been each other's everything. The pair live on Lake Superior, where the local school has classes of just four children, and the nearest hospital is a helicopter ride away. Though they live frugally, eking out a living with Laurel's patchwork of jobs, their deep love for each other feels like it can warm them even on the coldest of nights. What more do they need?
One otherwise normal afternoon, their landlord decides to evict them in favor of a more profitable summer rental, and, without any warning, they are pushed farther to the margins. Suddenly it feels like the independence that has defined them is a liability. And when a dangerous incident threatens to separate them, Laurel and Skye must forever choose--will they leave the place they love and the hardscrabble life they've built to move closer to civilization, or risk everything to embrace the emptiness and wildness that has defined them?
What follows is an uplifting, profoundly moving story about a mother and daughter fighting for each other, against all odds, as they learn to build community and foster the resilience that will keep them alive.
Pick up your copy here...
Ellen Airgood grew up on a farm in Michigan’s thumb, where her favorite things to do were read books, ride horses, swing in her tire swing, and write stories. She almost left the University of Michigan after her first year to go back home and farm, but did return to school after her parents offered to cosign the loan for the new fencing she’d need to raise beef cattle on their eighty acres, the only crop they considered feasible. (She was a vegetarian at the time.) She graduated with a Bachelor’s Science from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and now lives on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula, where she writes and owns a diner along with her husband. She is the author of three novels published by Penguin Books, including Michigan Notable Book and Midwest Bestseller, SOUTH OF SUPERIOR (also featured on National Public Radio’s Radio Reader), the award-winning PRAIRIE EVERS, a Bank Street Best Book for middle grade readers, and THE EDUCATION OF IVY BLAKE, a companion book to PRAIRIE EVERS. Her work also appears in THE WAY NORTH: NEW UPPER PENINSULA WRITINGS, from Wayne State University Press; HERE: WOMEN WRITING ON MICHIGAN'S UPPER PENINSULA, from Michigan State University Press; and the upcoming BOB SEGER'S HOUSE, also from Wayne State University Press.
My Thoughts...
The characters are so real. Very well developed. The story set in Michigan which I loved. I could close my eyes and see all the beauty all around me while I was reading this masterpiece.
I have to warn you that you just may cry it the very end.
This was a 4 star read to cherish and devour.
The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are our own.
Good post.
ReplyDeleteSounds really good. I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteAnother new author.
ReplyDeleteI would love to read this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete