The Children's Blizzard A Novel

This historical novel, inspired by the devastating storm that struck the Great Plains in 1888, is based on actual oral histories of survivors . The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, allowing homesteaders in the Dakota Territory to venture out and children to go to school without their heavy coats . However, at the hour when most prairie schools were letting out, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard, known as the Children's Blizzard, blew in without warning, forcing young schoolteachers to make life-or-death decisions: keep the children inside to risk freezing as fuel ran out, or send them home to risk getting lost in the storm . The gripping narrative follows the stories of two sisters and schoolteachers, Raina and Gerda Olsen, one of whom becomes a hero of the storm while the other is ostracized in the aftermath . It also tells the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival is a turning point in her life, and Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption, who was among those who wrote the embellished news stories that lured northern European immigrants to settle the pitiless land . At its core, it is a story of courage, of immigrant families pursuing the American dream, and of being torn asunder by a ferocious storm .

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