Friday, January 27, 2017

Blackwater Ben and The Broken Blade

   We've just finished the two books by Minnesota author William Durbin, The Broken Blade and Backwater Ben. The Broken Blade is about a young man who goes to work as a Voyageur when his father is injured and unable to work for their family and Backwater Ben is about a boy who works for his father who is a head cook in a logging camp in the early  1900s.  Both books give a good feel for the challenges men faced in these jobs.  They are written with realism and a bit of humor.  Both feature jobs with really rough men but are presented cleanly.  My Great Grandfather was a cook in a lumber camp in Northern Minnesota and we love visiting Lake Superior so both these stories feel like part of our own local heritage.  Both are great historical fiction.

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