This debut novel set in 1944 Door County, Wisconsin, is
based on a true time when German prisoners of war were used to harvest cherries
for American farmers. Prisoners also harvested crops in other areas of
Wisconsin and in places like Maine, where they harvested potatoes.
This is a story of family relationships and a love story.
It’s a time when food is rationed and scarce. The Christiansen family owns a
cherry orchard, and until and unless they get the crop harvested, money and
food is hard to come by, even for a farm family. Teenage Kate raises rabbits,
hoping to save the money to go to college in the fall. Brother Ben is in the
Army, stationed in Italy. Mother Charlotte barters for food to feed the family.
Thomas, her husband, didn’t want to farm, but dropped out of the university to
take over the orchard when his father died.
Thomas and Charlotte attend a meeting where they persuade
local authorities to allow German POWs to harvest cherries. The couple is
hesitant to support this idea, but it seems the only way to get the harvest
in. Thomas befriends one of the
prisoners, Karl, who is an educated man who taught mathematics in Germany. When
Kate has trouble with her studies, Karl is enlisted to tutor her.
Thomas travels to Madison where he meets up with a friend, a
professor Miss Fleming; they’ve been in love since their university days. Kate
falls for Clay, the rich son of a politician who is a war profiteer. Ben
returns home from war a changed man. There is a tragic and somewhat unexpected
ending.
The Disposable Man by Archer Mayor
The Dead Ringer: an Agatha Raisin mystery by MC Beaton
Carrying Albert Home: the somewhat true story of a man, his wife, and her alligator by Homer Hickam
The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna
Make it Fast, Cook it Slow: the big book of everyday sow cooking by Stephanie O'Dea
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
Crash Course in Disaster Preparedness by Carmen Cowick
Braving it: a father, a daughter and an unforgettable journey into the Alaskan wild by James Campbell
