An epic adventure, which follows a family’s early 1900’s journey to America and subsequent migration to Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. A difficult task turns precarious when this family loses their man along the way. A widow with children trapped in a world made for men is forced to play mother and father, protector and defender, and her growth and that of the family as she single-handedly leads them to a life of promise, is a story of the brand of uncommon courage found within the ancestors of this great and colorful region of our country. Take the journey with her and discover why.
The Gingrich family did not become the Gingrich family until aboard ship and only a couple days away from anchoring off New York’s Ellis Island. Frederic Gingrich chose the young Marie, widowed on the long journey to a new life in America, out of necessity and she agreed out of desperation. Gingrich needed a woman to mind his two boys and Marie was with child and without a man, not an ideal way for a newcomer to any society to begin, especially a woman, and especially in early nineteen hundreds America. The Winds of Change chronicles this family’s early days in their new homeland in epic fashion, beginning with the birth of Marie’s baby in the Harbor before disembarkation and following them on to a new home almost a year later in the wilds of Northern Minnesota where their futures seem to be carried on the winds of change.
Professional Reviews
The Winds of Change
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful storytelling, July 18, 2011
By Author D. V. Berkom -
Duane Schwartz weaves a complex thread of seemingly disparate events into a masterful composite in The Winds of Change. From the beginning pages, I was hooked by the colorful, well-drawn characters: Frederic and Marie Gingrich, German immigrants on their way to claim a farmstead in the Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota; Orv Baldwin, low-life gambler who's hell-bent on getting his revenge for a run-in with Gingrich; Jasper Hillman, a lawman with a conscience; as well as the Gingrich children, who are thrust into dangerous circumstances through no fault of their own. Marie Gingrich exhibited a strength of character and will I could only admire, and I cheered her victories as well as visited the depths with her when all seemed lost.
Schwartz places the reader in rough-and-tumble early twentieth-century America through his expert use of setting and spot-on dialogue. Snippets of well-researched information add to the story, alluding to the harsh realities of the days when this country was still wild and essentially lawless. Having grown up in Minnesota, I was surprised to learn that the Klan was active in the state at the turn of the twentieth century. The group's presence in the latter part of the story adds a great deal of tension to the plot, and I found myself turning the pages quickly in order to find out what would happen next.
There's murder, intrigue and men who play both sides of the law in The Winds of Change, and Schwartz does a good job in the telling. His characters come to life, bringing the reader back to a time when people had integrity and did what was right, not what was easy. I highly recommend The Winds of Change, and look forward to more from this talented author.
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