Farm Girl by Karen Jones Gowen

A lot of you writers probably follow Karen Jones Gowen's wonderful blog.

She's such a sweet blog friend, always taking time to encourage and help aspiring authors -- and published authors, too. She is published twice, first with her debut FARM GIRL, and second with her novel UNCUT DIAMONDS.

I had wanted to read FARM GIRL for awhile because I'd heard it compared to the Little House books and I love the Little House books. I love reading history.

I knew FARM GIRL was a true account of Karen's mother's childhood on a farm in Nebraska. The subject intrigued me, so I ordered the book on Amazon.

I happened to order The Hunger Games trilogy at the same time. (You know, you've gotta love spending over a certain amount on Amazon, because sometimes you get free shipping.)

So, the box arrived with FARM GIRL and MOCKINGJAY both inside.

And guess what?

I went for FARM GIRL first.

And read the whole thing in a couple of days.

And read little bits of it to my husband at night when we were lying in bed.

Now Karen herself tells her readers in the introduction: this book isn't meant to read exactly like a novel, because it's a folklore study. Karen collected the information about her mother's life and then went about writing it in her mother's voice, most specifically her mother's farm girl voice. "The advantage to this book being told by Mother rather than written by her, is that when she recalls her early years, she talks like Lucille Marker the Nebraska farm girl...." (from the Introduction)

Karen's grandmother was an avid painter. The book also features many of her paintings and lots of old photographs of their family. It really is a delightful read and it was so interesting to dig into the lives of people who lived in another time and place, their attitudes and opinions, their hardships and triumphs.  

Karen, thank you for sharing your mother's wonderful story! I thoroughly enjoyed it.