See Willy See

This 2020 Nebraska Book Award-winning novel spans two of America’s most traumatic decades—the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s. Caught in the run up to World War II, Connor considers enlisting, expecting he will go to Europe. Maybe he can protect his sister who's in Paris with the Foreign Service. It's hard to think about leaving home and family, for another years-long exile as he’d already done during the thirties—riding the rails and subsisting on the generosity of strangers. Colburn turns a familiar story to address current issues of character and values and how we tell our own stories. Can a close-knit family provide enough support, across large gaps in time and space, to keep scattered members resilient? This story will resonate especially with readers of Kirstin Hanna, Willa Cather or John Steinbeck. If you liked Hanna's Nightengale or Cather’s One of Ours, you’ll like See Willy See.

I've been a truck driver, a farmer, an environmentalist, and a mother of sons all grown now. I'm a hugger of trees, lover of old folks, history, quirky science, and books. My mother's parents were restaurateurs and I like to try new recipes, although they don't always come out the way I expect. I'm deeply concerned about human resiliency and how families and communities contribute to it-or not. Because I grew up in one, I'm particularly interested in extended families who have close relationships with the places where they live. As a farm kid, I got a hands-on introduction to one three-quarter-section piece of land-not by riding over it on a tractor, but by walking every hill and fencerow. It's provided me with a strong concern for the health of that land and the entire planet. I must have my hands in the dirt, so every summer I disappear into my garden(s) where I grow fruits and vegetables as well as flowers.. I live in town now, but my favorite parts of my double corner lot are the native grass and wildflower plots. They're nearly self-sustaining now.