“Shelterbelts is a wonderful novel, full of vivid writing and fierce characters with a passion for finding their place in the world despite the cruelties of war and the realities of living on the land. Like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg Ohio, this book explores the secret yearnings of the heart that promise to connect us if we take the time to discover them in each other. Readers are going to fall in love with Simar’s Tolga Township!”
Jonis Agee, Award-winning Author of The River Wife
Candace Simar is a writer and poet from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, in the heart of Lake Country. As a life-long Minnesotan, the grandchild of immigrants, Candace nurtures a passion for Minnesota History.
Publishing her Minnesota-based historical novels, ABERCROMBIE TRAIL 2009, POMME DE TERRE 2010; BIRDIE 2011; and BLOOMING PRAIRIE 2012, has been a dream come true.

Whiskey Creek
The rivers around Fort Abercrombie are beautiful. Known as the “Gateway to the Dakotas,” Fort Abercrombie was built on the Red River of the North. Whiskey Creek emptied into the Red River near the fort. I like to imagine the

Grant County Museum in Elbow Lake, Minnesota
I love all museums, but I have a special place in my heart for the museum at Elbow Lake, Minnesota. Although Fort Pomme de Terre is no longer, a to scale model of the old Fort Pomme de Terre is

Cold Spring Historical Society Museum
— I love small town museums. Often they inspire stories. I recently visited the Cold Spring Historical Society Museum. They have a wonderful antique quilt exhibit right now. If you’re in the Cold Spring, MN, area, you might take a

The Grasshopper Chapel in Cold Spring, MN
One of the most dramatic aspects of the Rocky Mountain Locust Plagues of the 1870s was Governor Pillsbury’s call for a day of prayer on April 26, 1877. Minnesota was in a bad way. Flour mills had closed because there

Whiskey Creek
The rivers around Fort Abercrombie are beautiful. Known as the “Gateway to the Dakotas,” Fort Abercrombie was built on the Red River of the North.

Grant County Museum in Elbow Lake, Minnesota
I love all museums, but I have a special place in my heart for the museum at Elbow Lake, Minnesota. Although Fort Pomme de Terre

Cold Spring Historical Society Museum
— I love small town museums. Often they inspire stories. I recently visited the Cold Spring Historical Society Museum. They have a wonderful antique quilt

The Grasshopper Chapel in Cold Spring, MN
One of the most dramatic aspects of the Rocky Mountain Locust Plagues of the 1870s was Governor Pillsbury’s call for a day of prayer on

Whiskey Creek
The rivers around Fort Abercrombie are beautiful. Known as the “Gateway to the Dakotas,” Fort Abercrombie was built on the Red River of the North.

Grant County Museum in Elbow Lake, Minnesota
I love all museums, but I have a special place in my heart for the museum at Elbow Lake, Minnesota. Although Fort Pomme de Terre

Cold Spring Historical Society Museum
— I love small town museums. Often they inspire stories. I recently visited the Cold Spring Historical Society Museum. They have a wonderful antique quilt

The Grasshopper Chapel in Cold Spring, MN
One of the most dramatic aspects of the Rocky Mountain Locust Plagues of the 1870s was Governor Pillsbury’s call for a day of prayer on
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Krista Soukup Accepting
2018 Laura Literary Award
on Behalf of Candace Simar