Quote Originally Posted by eclectic View Post
IMy all time favorite book is Giants in the Earth by OE Rolvaag. It is about Norwegian immigrants to the Dakotas in the late 1800's. It in no way romanticises the experience like so many other books do. It was originally written in Norwegian in 1921 and translated to English in 1924. Just an all around great read and I highly recommend it.
(I may be a little biased as in 1898 my Great Grandmother from Sweden lived alone for 2 years in a sod house on a claim in Roberts Co SD with 2 children under the age of three while my grandfather went to the gold rush in the Klondike - it wasn't a romantic era)
This is one of my favorites, too. It's sort of the antidote to Little House on the Prairie. Don't get me wrong, I read, re-read, and loved all of Laura Ingalls Wilders' books. But Giants in the Earth is a much more realistic portrayal of the pioneer experience for many immigrants. The final scene is seared in my imagination. Eclectic, I'm glad your g'g'ma survived, and the kids, too! My Swedish/Danish ancestors never made it to the plains--they settled in Michigan and were iron workers.