When her husband, Kristoffer, dies from a burst appendix in Iowa in 1905, middle-aged Karoline Olsen, mother of six, must make the 145-mile trip from Cedar Falls to Soldier by horse-drawn wagon to bring his body home. With the corpse on fast-melting ice, Karoline struggles to make good time across the rolling prairie during an exceptionally hot summer, recalling the story of their rocky marriage that brought them from Norway to the New World. The young couple, ambitious and naïve, arrive in the United States in 1884 with hopes of establishing a farm among other Norwegian immigrants, but are met instead with a constant battle against disease, famine, and poverty.

A chronicle of the Olsens’ fight to survive in the undeveloped Midwest, to preserve tradition in a new context, and to protect their family from the ravages of pioneer living, The Journey of Karoline Olsen is the tale of a woman and a wife building the American Dream out of nothing but the dirt on which she stands.

My thoughts: This compelling novel, about Norwegian newlyweds who immigrate to the Midwest, explores their difficult marriage in a new land. If there’s really a purpose for everything, what about the calamities they face, what about his cruel words, especially his last words to her? Masterfully written.

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With her husband freshly buried, Karoline Olsen now shoulders the twin burdens of raising her large brood of children, including the one she carries in her belly, and managing a difficult farm life by herself in the Loess Hills. Spanning 1905 to 1933, the second installment of the Olsen series brings major world events—WWI, the Spanish flu, prohibition, suffrage, and the Great Depression—to Iowa, impacting the lives of the Soldier inhabitants, including the Olsens.

A continuing chronicle of the Olsen family’s survival, Sons and Daughters is the tale of a widowed woman fighting to preserve a legacy, carve her own path in the midst of tragedy and historic hardship, and guide six first-generation American children who are discovering their own identities in a rapidly changing world.

My thoughts: This historical novel is set in western Iowa after Norwegian immigrant Karoline Olsen is widowed. Expected to remarry to save her farm, she refuses since she has grown sons. Each of her seven children carries the realistic challenges of second generation immigrants’ expectations and prejudices, along with a story or two from early Iowa history. Some of the hard ones are shortages during the Great War, along with the draft and terrible losses, influenza quarantines, lost farms after the war, forced abortion, forced marriage, mental illness after a rape, loss of life and fortunes from the Stock Market Crash. Encouraging chapters included strong women, women suffrage, and a boy skipping school to watch Babe Ruth play baseball at Sioux City. The fascinating book is a mix of family stories and Iowa history.

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Ann Hanigan Kotz is a retired teacher who resides in Adel, Iowa, with her husband, John. She was born and raised in Denison, Iowa, on a farm southwest of town with her parents and five siblings. As a girl, she spent her summers reading at the Carnegie Library and spent time with her maternal grandparents, Glenn and Alice Olson, on their farm, visiting other Norwegian families in the Loess Hills area. Ann remembers well her grandparents taking her to Soldier, Iowa, to visit her great-grandfather, Tingvald Olson. The smell of his pipe and the sound of his fiddle found their way into this story.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Arts in Education from Viterbo University. She began a career in education in 1988 and taught high school English for 33 years, later teaching college-level classes to high school students who themselves wanted to become teachers.

As a teacher, Ann is passionate about helping students become better writers and readers. She credits her own writing ability to both studying and teaching the craft and considers education to be one of the most honorable professions.

Here is her website.

And here’s Ann’s interview with John Busbee of The Culture Buzz about her first book.