Kathleen Ernst

press release: Discover the landscape and homesteads of early Wisconsin settlers in A Settler's Year: Pioneer Life through the Seasons, written by popular mystery writer Kathleen Ernst and published by The Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

Ernst's newest nonfiction book weaves a seasonal tapestry of Midwestern pioneer life -- tying Ernst's poignant essays together with evocative color photographs taken by award-winning photographer Loyd Heath at Old World Wisconsin, the country's largest outdoor museum of rural life. This page-turning journey traverses the seasons from sprawling farms to cramped smoky cabins and from a tidy crossroads village to gracious, well-furnished home.

Readers experience the back-straining chores, cherished folk traditions, annual celebrations, and indomitable spirit that comprised pioneer life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From spring blossoms to winter's tranquility and everything in between, the changing seasons provide a beautiful backdrop to display the diverse work of settlers.

At its heart, "A Settler's Year" is about people dreaming of, searching for, and creating new homes in a new land. This moving book transports us back to the pioneer era and inspires us to explore the stories found on our own family trees through the blending of photographs and history.