Wisconsin-born author Rebecca Rasmussen will return home this month as part of Mount Mary’s Writers on Writing Series, a recurring event sponsored by the University’s Master of Arts in English Program that brings best-selling authors to campus to talk about their published work, their process and their craft. Rasmussen’s newest book, Evergreen, is set in the northwoods of Minnesota and follows the secluded, rustic lives of two families, spanning the late 1930s to the early 1970s.
When the novel opens, Eveline is newly married and a stranger to the wild and lonely pine-swept landscape she finds herself in. As a new mother, Eveline befriends a wiser, more confident woman named Lulu and the pair quickly becomes as close as sisters. But the story soon switches its focus to Eveline’s children—son, Hux, an outdoorsman who grows up in a forested paradise, and an illegitimate daughter, Naamah, who is raised in a strict orphanage apart from the family. As adults, the siblings struggle to reconnect and make sense of their very different upbringings. Set against an extremely rugged landscape, Evergreen is a haunting story of love, loss and hope.
This emotional tale spans three generations, each of which is beset by challenges and the repercussions of past generations’ mistakes. A character-driven narrative, Evergreen is richly poetic and filled with marvelous details. Readers will embrace each character, complete with their deeply flawed personalities and genuinely human habits.
Evergreen is Rasmussen’s second novel and follows her acclaimed 2011 debut, The Bird Sisters. Raised in Spring Green, Wis., Rasmussen currently resides in California and teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles. Rasmussen will speak at Mount Mary University’s Helfaer Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. To reserve a place, contact Karen Murray at murrayk@mtmary.edu or 414-258-4810, ext. 395.
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Book Happenings:
Nickolas Butler
7 p.m., April 16
Shorewood Library
3920 N. Murray Ave.
Shorewood Reads, a collaborative series of events sponsored by the Shorewood Public Library, Friends of Shorewood Library and Boswell Book Co., welcomes bestselling author Nickolas Butler to several Milwaukee locations from April 11-16. Butler, the author of Shotgun Lovesongs, is a graduate of UW-Madison as well as the Iowa Writers Workshop. Shotgun Lovesongs tells the story of four friends who return to a fictional Wisconsin town in middle age to find their friendship challenged and tested. The main author event will be held Thursday, April 16 but information about other book signings and live readings by Butler can be found at shorewoodlibrary.org/shorewoodreads.
Marie Bostwick
2 p.m., April 11-12
Mukwonago Quilt Show, Parkview Middle School
930 N. Rochester St., Mukwonago
Marie Bostwick, author of Between Heaven and Texas, a prequel to her popular Cobbled Court Quilt series, will be at the Mukwonago Quilt Show, 2 p.m., April 11-12. A story filled with quilting, this novel also touches on womanhood and marriage.
