Bücher der Reihe Chickenhouse Chronicles

Pawns resurrects a decade of family dysfunction on an isolated farm in northern Minnesota. In Wendell Affields first book, Herman: 1940s Lonely Hearts Search, the author explored his stepfathers life on a farm in Nebish and search for a wife. This second book in the Chickenhouse Chronicles conjures up memories as Affield pores over musty letters, documents, and seventy-year-old photographic negatives beneath a magnifying glass.Those pictures transport him back in timein some cases before his own birth. Some photographs evoke fading memories of his mother, a beautiful young New Yorker and accomplished Juilliard-trained pianist; others evoke images of puppies tied to a corncrib, a harrowing escape to a secluded mountain lake in the Cascade Mountains, and his brother Randynow forty years dead.Dark images on transparent plastic film transport Affield back: jumping from a second floor window to escape his mothers wrath; pleading with his stepfather not to kill his puppy, shinnying up trees with Randy, almost drowning in Lake Chelan.Memory bits expand into images of fear and anger: a water trough Wendell angrily destroyed with an ax; long distant road trips with his siblings and mother in attempts to escape her abusive husband; hand-written notes on the backs of faded photos. His mothers fear of forgetting her children scattered across the country in foster homes after she was committed to a mental institution.

Great for research! This biographical book features resource material for anyone seeking to understand the plight of women in the 1940s. The author highlights the life of his stepfather, Herman, a shy WWII veteran who responds to the personal ad of a New York pianist with four children. In 1949, Barbara moves to his rural Minnesota farm with her young children, including the author.Part II of this short book includes a rare 52-page Lonely Hearts Catalogue from 1945. This book is a great resource for those researching family history and would make an intriguing text for Women's Studies programs.The Chickenhouse Chronicles is a series of cross-genre, standalone books that do not need to be read in any order.