A rugged climate breeds a rugged people, and the Southwells were no exception. Grover, the son of a ship’s carpenter, is the victim of a broken marriage and is sent to Coldwater Orphanage. Made a ward of the state, he is placed with a merciless farmer who won’t let Grover stop working long enough to go to school. His father returns for him on his eighteenth birthday, only to find an embittered young man. Grover’s story of forgiveness, financial struggle, family love, and salvation encompasses more than just a woodsman’s tale of the early twentieth century, it chronicles the settling of the vast northern reaches of a harsh land and the sacrifices that were made to tame it.

 

Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: Pleasant Word-A Division of WinePress Publishing (April 29, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414101996
ISBN-13: 978-1414101996
Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches - 1.2lbs

 

COMMENTS

Cathy Snider
Rose City, Mi USA

This has got to be one of the best books describing in detail living in the early 1900’s. Mr. Southwell, keeps you so interested and the book is so hard to put down. It is excellent..would advise anyone interested in history, especially in the history of Michigan and the lumber era to read this book and pass it to your children and grandchildren. An excellent excellent book..well done.

 

Midwest Book Review
Oregon, WI

Tall Trees, Tall People by Rex Southwell is a deftly written novel that takes place in northern Michigan and tells the story of one family’s struggle against a background of cutting virgin timber, clearing land, and making a life in the far north woods. Set in the early twentieth century, it tells of a young man made a ward of the state, and placed with a farmer who won’t let him stop working long enough to go to school. When the young man turns eighteen, his father returns, only to find his son consumed with bitterness. The road to forgiveness is a long and rocky one, amid financial pressures, the perils of an untamed wilderness, and bonds of family love that at times stretch tenuously thin. Highly recommended.