About Dakota, Or What’s a Heaven For:
The lives and schemes of frontier politicians, Northern Pacific Railroad executives, bonanza farmers, and homesteaders converge in the story of Frances Houghton Bingham, who marries the son of a Red River Valley bonanza farmer in order to remain near her new husband’s sister. Emotionally complex, willful and resourceful, Frances is seduced by the myths of opportunity driving the settlement of Dakota Territory, and dares to dream of a new world in which to realize her unconventional desires. Providing a counterpoint to the dramatic risks taken by Frances is the generous voice of Kirsten Knudson, the daughter of Norwegian homesteaders. As Kirsten grows from a voluble girl to a formidable woman, her observations (equal parts absurdity and insight) reveal the heart of the novel.
About Author Brenda K. Marshall (in her own words):
I was born on a farm in the Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota, and grew up climbing trees, riding my pony, and daydreaming under a wide prairie sky. I left North Dakota after college, and have since lived in Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and for the past fourteen years, Michigan. I have a Ph.D. in English, and teach part-time in the English Department at the University of Michigan.
My first novel,
Mavis, was published in 1996, and my second novel,
Dakota, Or What’s a Heaven For, was released in November 2010 from the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies. I also have published a book of scholarship,
Teaching the Postmodern: Fiction and Theory (Routledge, 1992).
My (unlawfully wedded) spouse of twenty-five years, Valerie, and I live in the country near Ann Arbor, with two horses, two dogs, and one cat. When not writing or teaching, I might be trying to improve my nascent woodworking skills, riding horse, working in my vegetable garden, helping out in Valerie’s huge perennial garden, reading, exercising at the gym, listening to opera, or planning trips, some of which I actually take. No matter where I am living or what I am doing, I think of myself as a North Dakotan.
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