Time for you to get Perspective!

 

My latest book, Perspective is now out, and I think you need to get a little perspective by reading this book!

Perspective is the story of Genevieve Williams, a twelve year old girl who wants to grow up to be an artist. 

The Great Depression is raging, and millions of people are out of work and on the street. Despite the economic turmoil, Genevieve lives a comfortable and quiet life with her mother, a high school English teacher. They live a simple life, without ostentation. She sits and sketches in their Duluth apartment while her mother grades papers and classical records spin on their phonograph. They eat most of their meals out in the little diners that dot the downtown neighborhood and Genevieve spends time in the local parks and libraries.  In addition to her schoolwork, her mother is active in the local temperance union and is determined to shut down the speakeasies and bars that continue to serve alcohol despite Prohibition. Genevieve's mother has taken her on raids to such establishments, so Genevieve knows the horror and devastation that alcoholism can bring to a family.

But when Genevieve's mother dies of lung cancer, her whole world comes apart.  She is sent to live with her Aunt Gertrude, Uncle Edwin, and their two spoiled sons, and in spite the fact that Uncle Edwin drives a fine DeSoto and Aunt Gertrude wears a mink coat, they announce that they simply cannot keep Genevieve once they discover that they will not be able to put their fingers on her money. Aunt Gertrude buys her niece a one way ticket to Isle Royale, where she is to live with the father she's never known. 

She boards the Winyah and makes friends with a young sailor, but she finds that her stomach is not seaworthy and spends a miserable night wondering about where she is going and what she will find there. Strangely, Genevieve had never questioned her mother about what happened between her and her father. Now she wonders if she's sailing into a horrible situation. Is her father some kind of monster? What will life be on her new island home?  The man who meets her at the pier is no monster, but a shy, soft-spoken fisherman. While she and her mother are blonde Scandinavians, Dylan is a black haired Welshman. The two slowly get to know each other and Genevieve learns to love this gentle man. 

She learns that life on the island is very different than life in urban Duluth. There is no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no phonographs to play classical music in the background during quiet evenings. 

There are also no restaurants just around the corner and no school! Genevieve must keep up her studies with correspondence lessons that go through the mail. Worse yet, once the lake freezes over in winter, she and her father will be completely cut off from the mainland. 

But Dylan and Genevieve are not completely alone. The Torgeson family lives close by. Dylan fishes with the father, and Genevieve becomes a good friend with  Ida, the eldest daughter. She develops a crush on Gunnar, who is about her age, and loves playing with the little sisters and brothers. Ida and Mrs. Torgeson help Genevieve learn to cook on a little, wood-burning stove, how to can, and how to keep house without any of the technology that Genevieve must now live without. 

Just as she unravels the mystery of her parents' broken relationship, and learns to love the island's rustic beauty, the government threatens to take it all away. Genevieve must find a way to protect her gentle, but flawed father from an outside world he has never known, and not sacrifice her dreams to become an artist. She must learn to separate her mother's judgements from her own and accept her father for his merits while forgiving him for his failures.

Genevieve must learn that perspective is not just a theory in art, but a way of seeing the world through the lens of forgiveness and patience.

Perspective will immerse you into a time and place that is distant but still very much relevant. It is written so that a middle grade reader can read it, but is interesting enough to keep and adult reader happy. I hope you will read it and gain some perspective on not only your world, but Genevieve's. 

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a retired English and History teacher. She and her family visited Isle Royale during the summer of 2000, and she was inspired by that trip to write this story. You can learn more about the history of Isle Royale here, and about its wildlife here. 

Paperback and ebook copies of Perspective can be bought on Amazon. 

You can buy a paperback directly from Jennifer Bohnhoff, and she will sign it and include a few goodies when she sends your book.