Simar releases new book, ‘Montana Matrimonial News’

BRAINERD — Award-Winning author Candace Simar will celebrate the release of her latest book, “Montana Matrimonial News,” 1-3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, at the Brainerd Public Library. The event is free and open to the public. Simar will present a book talk at 1:30 p.m. on this latest historical novel.

In “Montana Matrimonial News,” loneliness gnaws and chews like the relentless prairie wind. Dakota homesteader, Digger Dancy, props his feet in the oven and waits for the storm to end. His brother, George, barges into the soddy in a swirl of blowing snow. George announces he will abandon his claim to seek a wife. He can’ t stand the loneliness. Digger slaps a stack of old newspapers on the table and convinces him to place an ad for a correspondence bride in the Montana Matrimonial News. Doctor Gamla, the almost-doctor and midwife, treats George’ s frostbite, and offers a cure for his melancholia. She tells of two sisters living in tar-paper shacks along the Mad Dog River. The brothers cannot imagine how Doctor Gamla’ s cure will change their lives. Nickelbo’ s whole world is wheat. The homesteaders talk about crops, worry about the weather, complain about prices, and dream what they’ ll buy after the harvest. Asa Wainwright busts sod with a grasshopper plow. Ingrid Larson dallies over planting to avoid her sister’ s wedding. Drunken Oscar Borgom gets lost in a storm on the way to the outhouse. Through it all, Doctor Gamla delivers babies, treats ailments, and offers advice.“ My cures work if you can stand them.”

“The text recalls John Steinbeck’s ‘Cannery Row’ with its short-story-like structure charting the lives of various members of the small community,” as stated in a recent Kirkus Review. “One of the most engaging aspects of the novel is the characters’ interactions with major historical events, such as Prohibition and North Dakota achieving statehood. While Prohibition is mostly discussed by the men (who are typically opposed) in the story, the women who are pro-Prohibition are not looked down upon. The novel is successful as an affirmation of the importance of community and connection in the human experience. Touching vignettes of everyday life and romance on the American frontier.”

“The setting is Nickelbo, North Dakota. Simar hands us the climate of every season, including the deathly chill of winter wind and the oppressive heat of a hot August sun, and everything in between,” stated book reviewer Charlie Johnson. “Descriptions of the landscape are diverse, even if it is North Dakota — tree lines, plowed fields, storefronts, and private homes thrive under her keyboard, not to mention the occasional dog, mule, goose, or misbegotten creature. The stories, too, are varied. There are tragic events, there are senseless issues, there are everyday events that turn into life-changing conflict. The pace flows well from story to story, from man to woman, from scientific practice to prehistoric thinking. Simar’s trademark of good story, good character and good setting make ‘Montana Matrimonial News’ yet another fine book to her list of writings.”

Pequot Lakes author Simar likes to imagine how things might have been. Her historical fiction combines her love of history with her Scandinavian heritage. Simar has been recognized by a Spur Award from Western Writers of America, a Will Rogers Gold Medallion, a Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers, and Laura Awards for Short Fiction. “Sister Lumberjack” received the Midwest Book Award, was a finalist for the Willa Literary Awards in Historical Fiction, and took 3rd place in the Catholic Novel category of the Catholic Media Awards. Learn more about her work at www.

candacesimar.com

. The book was published by North Star Press of St. Cloud and represented by Blue Cottage Agency.