Additional information
by Janice Kooiker (Editor), Michelle Huffaker (Illustrator), Mae Schick (Author)
A tar paper shack sits on 160 acres of partially cultivated land. Beside the shack stands a solitary woman, surveying the land she has yet to till. In five years she can own this land...if she can make it productive. And if she can outlast the acts of nature, the violent intruders, and jealous homesteader wives who threaten her claim. Inspired by the true stories of brave, single women who claimed frontier land as part of Abraham Lincoln's Homestead Act of 1864. Follow the stories of five single women fighting for A Life of Their Own: pragmatic Mirna, scintillating Sophie, bright Nora, bewildered Lizzie, and enigmatic Mrs. Andersson. Will they be able to prove up their land? Can they thrive?
Author Biography
Mae Schick is a former English language teacher and language school owner who has written extensively her entire life. She was raised in Montana, and although the Homestead Acts came to a halt before she was born, she grew up among "ancients" who had a part in the fascinating era of the settling of the West. Occasionally she meets up with a homesteading descendant who has a story or two about growing up on the "old place." Her first book was 53 Bears, a series of vignettes from her early childhood to her college years, two of which have been published in Montana anthologies. Her novel Lila, and her short stories about woman homesteaders, were inspired by the relatively unheralded experiences of strong women finding ways to become self-reliant in the American West. Many of her characters are drawn from the written histories of these women, and conversations she had growing up in a community of mostly elderly people, some who were raised on homesteads, including her parents. Her characters start off in difficulty, dissatisfaction, or in feeling unfulfilled. Circumstances compel them to leave what is familiar and move out West. At the heart of her stories are women facing new challenges, making life-changing choices, and forging relationships. Ms. Schick lives in Bigfork, Montana on Flathead Lake where she is working on Minna, her latest novel
