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Stories of a Pivotal Time
Twin Ports resident and author Ellen Baker found inspiration for her second novel sprinkled beside various shores of Lake Superior.
“I get inspired by landscapes,” she says. “With this one, I was inspired by some photographs I had seen of women who had worked in shipyards in the Duluth-Superior area. I definitely had them in my mind, and there were a couple of other images – an abandoned house in the Upper Peninsula and the city of Calumet, Michigan. I just found Calumet so fascinating. It went from 70,000 to fewer than 7,000 now. … I knew they needed to all be in one novel, and I didn’t know how it would happen.”
It all came together in I Gave My Heart to Know This, Ellen’s second novel for Random House. As in Keeping the House, Ellen looks at a time pivotal for women. I Gave My Heart explores the lives of three women in World War II when many women did “man’s work,” in this case in the Twin Ports shipyards.
“During the period of the war, there is so much change going on, so as a novelist, it’s attractive. People are moving around a lot, they’re having a lot of drama in their life. It really lends itself to telling good stories.”
Ellen saw those photos of working women when she worked at the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior. During her research, she discovered that women filling men’s roles in time of war was not a phenomenon new in World War II, but that was the first time that those positions were filled by middle-class women rather than poorer or immigrant women.
Ellen approached writing of this new novel differently than her first, published four years ago. For that one, she completed the manuscript then used printed and online resources to look for an agent. The agent she found hooked her up with Random House, which signed a two-book contract with Ellen.
Before writing her second novel, she began with the editors. “I started this one knowing that they would publish. I worked fairly collaboratively with them to come up with an idea they would be interested in.
These days Ellen balances cloistering at home to write with being on the road for weeks of promotional tours. Her recent six-week tour traversed Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
She also talks with book clubs and enjoys chatting about her characters. “I live with them for about four years, then all of a sudden, all of these people know about them and have an opinion about them.”
For now, Ellen finds the writing life suits her fine.
“I love really every aspect of writing. From the research to the first draft to the rewriting and editing and then going out and talking to people finally.” – Konnie LeMay
I Gave My Heart to Know This
by Ellen Baker
Random House
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6636-0
$26.00 Hardcover
In this well-crafted weaving that moves the reader from World War II to the present, Ellen Baker traces across the decades the effects of a life-changing human tragedy experienced by three women.
The global themes of loyalty, love and loss find settings on the familiar shores of Lake Superior and the distant coast of California. And while sense of place pleasantly colors the book for regional readers, Ellen’s sense of human drama makes this a story of value to everyone, everywhere. Sadly, we are again at war today and these stories resonate on a current note, too.
It’s delightful to savor work by a regional author with a national appeal, one whose skills prompted master storyteller Richard Ford to write: “This novel has a naturalness and finesse that are truly rare.” – KLM
Blue Guitar Highway
by Paul Metsa
University of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 978-8166-7642-2
$24.95 Hardcover
You’ve got to admire Paul Metsa. He chased his dreams and became an accomplished Minneapolis-based guitarist and songwriter. Although he’s often lived gig to gig, you sense from this memoir that he’s loved the ride.
Blue Guitar Highway is a fun read on a number of levels. Paul grew up on Minnesota’s Iron Range in Virginia, anchored by a close family. Naturally, he writes of Duluth and of Bob Dylan. Any kid growing up in the 1960s and ’70s who yearned to be in a rock ’n’ roll band will identify with this story. Paul deftly carves character sketches of the musicians and venues that were a big part of the Minneapolis folk, rock and blues history over the last 30 years or more. As someone who attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus in the 1970s, I enjoyed hearing of old hangouts such as the 400 Bar and the Cabooze on the West Bank and the Union Bar and Nye’s Polonaise Room not far from campus.
Paul comes across as a decent guy. Rather than being full of his many accomplishments, he maintains a modesty, even though he’s opened for or played on the same stage as big-name artists like J.J. Cale, Ry Cooder, John Hartford, Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen. Especially touching are sections about his sold-out show at the old Guthrie Theater, his friendship with Woody Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, and his mother’s passing.
Reading this memoir, I too got to live the rock ’n’ roll dream. – Bob Berg
Paradise North
by Lon L. Emerick
North Country Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-96505-771-4
$24.95 Softcover
Lon Emerick, a fifth generation resident of the Upper Peninsula, is at his best describing his home landscape and his interactions with it. Those are my favorite chapters in a book that blends Lon’s observations as he wanders the U.P. mixed with a bit of travel guide and some venting on subjects that boil his blood, especially what he sees as destructive environmental behavior.
I most enjoyed reading Lou’s essays on his adventures, such as with his Sauntering Club – and thank you, Lon, for suggesting how to start my own. The juggling of essay or guide can be disconcerting, but if taken one chapter a day, the package brings a reader to the U.P. … and what better place to be? – KLM