Historical Fiction – The Meaning of Names –
By Karen Gettert Shoemaker
In this fine work of historical fiction, the small town of Stuart in northeastern Nebraska is far from the horrors of World War I, the Great War, but this place finds its own share of challenges during that time period.
Many German-American immigrants populate this area in Nebraska. This leads to a clash of cultures when America joins the war against Germany. In a rarely-glimpsed time capsule, the author describes in detail the anti-German propaganda, discrimination, and persecution that some immigrants faced in their own and neighboring communities. Nebraskans even amended their constitution to forbid teaching in schools in any language but English, an amendment solely aimed at German-speaking communities. (This is still in the constitution of Nebraska, despite efforts to get rid of the archaic amendment.)
Shoemaker paints her fictional characters skillfully. We come to know them and their families well. Gerda, a young wife and mother, is a heroine who doesn’t wish to be one. Her husband and others in the neighborhood, including the doctor especially, try to make the best of some bad situations. The true villains of this novel show themselves to be the demons of self-preservation that haunt mankind, bringing out either the best or worst in people.
The persecution of German immigrants fades somewhat as a new danger arrives. This is one that all the inhabitants will have to face together. Spanish influenza, the pandemic that killed millions worldwide, comes to Nebraska. Coping with sickness and death on an everyday basis changes all their lives.
This is a fine work of historical fiction about the early 1900’s. The story grabbed me and propelled me through to the end. It is very readable and I recommend it to anyone.
4/5 stars
Reviewed by Susan Furman