My childhood was spent on the family dairy farm in rural Otter Tail County. Being the middle child, I often felt too young to tag along with the older kids and too old to play with the younger ones. As a result, I spent a lot of time listening. I loved hearing my grandparents (who lived upstairs in our huge farmhouse) talk about the early days, when their parents were pioneers, when Minnesota was young. I was fascinated by their stories of passenger pigeons, dust storms, and the hardships of getting started in a new land.
I didn’t know these stories would become the basis for my historical novels. After all, I loved to read historical fiction. I never dreamed I would end up writing it.
ABERCROMBIE TRAIL, my first novel about the Sioux Uprising, was inspired by the family story of my great grandfather driving the stagecoach to Fort Abercrombie. The names of my characters are mostly family names and lots of family stories are tucked into my characters lives.
POMME DE TERRE, my second novel, investigates life in the aftermath of the Sioux Uprising, specifically in Fort Pomme de Terre in Grant County near present day Elbow Lake, Minnesota. I loved resurrecting the history of the people of that time.
BIRDIE continues the story of these characters a decade later during the grasshopper plagues of the 1870s. It investigates the lives of survivors and deals with issues of faith and family in the face of great hardship. The characters homestead in Otter Tail County, as my ancestors did. Yes, I am pulling on real history and family stories to propel my characters through the pages. (My sister says it is her favorite of the three published books.)
I’m working diligently on my fourth novel in the ABERCROMBIE TRAIL SERIES, BLOOMING PRAIRIE. Watch for its release next summer.
32 Responses
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Candy, I received “Pomme de Terre” for Christmas from my wife Jean, and then I bought “Abercrombie Trail” on-line from Alibris. First I tried our East Central (Aitkin) Library on-line catalog. None of the three stories are in this library system yet. The owner at Book World in Baxter told Jean that she has read all three of your stories and likes “Birdie” the best. I requested “Birdie” at our Aitkin Library today and told librarian Marybeth Woodrow that all library systems should have the series, published in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
I too have immigrant Norwegian ancestors. They came to Stevens and Wright County, starting in 1871. I still own an eighty from my Grandfather Ole Erickson, that he and Erikka purchased in 1898. I have the original document that he carried with him in 1883 on the ship to New York, written for him at age 18 by the parish priest as he left Kongsvinger, Norway.
You have made our history come alive. I was born in Morris, and as a child, lived in the upstairs apartment at the boys’ dormitory of the Morris Ag School, where my Dad was an instructor. This campus, now the University of Minnesota-Morris, was first an Indian School, organized in the 1880’s and ’90s, by the Catholic Church.
-Gordon Prickett
How nice of you to read my books and take the time to comment. I’m glad you enjoy my novels–watch for BLOOMING PRAIRIE coming out next summer as it will take place partly in Stevens County along the old Wadsworth Trail. 🙂
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