Swede Hollow

A Novel

De: Ola Larsmo, Tiina Nunnally - translator

Narrado por: Ann Richardson

Duración: 14 h y 58 m

Resumen del Editor

When Gustaf and Anna Klar and their three children leave Sweden for New York in 1897, they take with them a terrible secret and a longing for a new life. But their dream of starting over is nearly crushed at the outset: a fire devastates Ellis Island just as they arrive, and then the relentlessly harsh conditions and lack of work in the city make it impossible for Gustaf to support his family. An unexpected gift allows the Klars to make one more desperate move, this time to the Midwest and a place called Swede Hollow.

Their new home is a cluster of rough-hewn shacks in a deep, wooded ravine on the edge of St. Paul, Minnesota. The Irish, Italian, and Swedish immigrants who live here are a hardscrabble lot usually absent from the familiar stories of Swedish American history. The men hire on as poorly paid day laborers for the Great Northern or Northern Pacific railroads or work at the nearby brewery, and the women clean houses, work at laundries, or sew clothing in stifling factories. Outsiders malign Swede Hollow as unsanitary and rife with disease, but the Klar family and their neighbors persevere in this neglected corner of the city - and consider it home.

Extensively researched and beautifully written, Ola Larsmo's award-winning novel vividly portrays a family and a community determined to survive.

©2016 Ola Larsmo and Tiina Nunnally (P)2020 Tantor

Great insight as to how early 1900s emigrants lived.

I learned so much about the hardships of early emigrants. I liked that it followed families for generations.