Synopses & Reviews
"Rousing fun." — Minneapolis Star Tribune “A wonder of a novel, rich in history, humor, and heart, with prose that flows and sparkles like a sunlit river.” — Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon
“Lyrical and humorous [with] gorgeous prose . . . A rich and intricate novel full of compassion for these pioneers and the place they live.” — St. Paul Pioneer Press
Raised in the same small community, Clement and Angel, fraternal twins separated at birth, grow up in different worlds. He lives among orphans, nuns, Native Americans, prostitutes. She lives in the town mansion, dressed in taffeta skirts and dodging her mother’s manic attention. Bound by a mystical connection, the twins rarely meet, but Clement knows if he is truly in need, Angel will come.
Near the Mississippi River and Canada, Stillwater becomes an important stop on the Underground Railroad. As the nation pushes boundaries, geographic and moral, and marches into civil war, the territory is at a crossroads. Clement and Angel have both learned to survive at the edge of things, but what will this new world hold for them? Will it set them free?
Stillwater is a lyrical, vibrant, often hilarious, and always unforgettable journey into our past, ourselves, and the impulses that drive us to create and explore.
“Told in a vigorous and warmly resonant prose that captures both the ridiculous and the sublime . . . A steady pleasure.” — Historical Novel Society
“Stillwater has true grit . . . Entertaining, inventive, outrageous and well-told.”—MinnPost
Review
"A wonder of a novel, rich in history, humor and heart, with prose that flows and sparkles like a sunlit river."
—Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon and The Wilding
"Stillwater is a stunning achievement. Helget brings her keen sense for Southern Gothic to, of all places, the Northwoods of Minnesota. A fascinating story of a frontier logging town, this novel boasts a remarkable assortment of characters—Indians, slaves, trappers, missionaries, mothers and lost children—all caught up in the crosscurrents of American history. A highly touching and believable tale."
—Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing
Review
"Set on the Minnesota frontier, in the river town that eventually became the home of the state prison, this novel focuses on the intertwined lives of various settlers, Native Americans, escaped slaves, and orphans. They include twins Angel and Clement, who are separated by Angels adoption into a prominent family but connected by a psychic link; Mother St. John and Father Paul, who run an orphanage that also serves as a stop on the Underground Railroad; and trapper and bounty hunter Beaver Jean and his two Native American wives. As the narrative unfolds, we see the evolution of an unsettled territory into statehood, the growth of the timber industry, the uneasy relations with Native Americans, and Minnesotas role in the Civil War. VERDICT The novel often has a gothic feel, with madwomen, poisonings, and dead babies. But there is also an undercurrent of black humor, particularly in the portrayal of Beaver Jean, who is reprehensible but also a delightful comic creation...[Helget's] research has provided copious fascinating detail that she interweaves with her intriguing tale." —
Library Journal "Helgets tale of frontier life in the territory of Minnesota gives stark meaning to the term 'woebegone.'...this novel effectively dramatizes the seismic sociological shifts that shaped the American Midwest." — Kirkus
"Helgets colorful cast struggles against an 'every man for himself' frontier mentality: from a set of orphaned, separated twins named Clement and Angel; to their biological father, a neer-do-well fur-trapper named Beaver Jean; to Angels nervous, abusive adoptive mother in her fine taffeta skirts; to the nuns and priests and native Americans and escaped slaves who fill out the titular town of Stillwater. The question of whether they will—or wont—take the risks to help each other survive gives the story some tension, but Helgets lyricism is what elevates it"
—Publishers Weekly
"Make room, Louise Erdrich, Minnesota has a new resident scribe, and her name is Nicole Helget. Stillwater is that rare historical novel that shines as much light forward as it does back. In prose that shimmers, Helget tells the story of orphans and runaway slaves, do-gooders and do-badders, gentle nuns and randy old coots, each of whom damn near leaps off the page, reminding us of who we are now. Rascally and robust, saucy and sincere and serious as a logjam, Stillwater is celebration of this country's coming of age from a writer staking her claim to greatness."
—Peter Geye, author of Safe from the Sea and The Lighthouse Road
"A wonder of a novel, rich in history, humor and heart, with prose that flows and sparkles like a sunlit river."
—Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon and The Wilding
"Stillwater is a stunning achievement. Helget brings her keen sense for Southern Gothic to, of all places, the Northwoods of Minnesota. A fascinating story of a frontier logging town, this novel boasts a remarkable assortment of characters—Indians, slaves, trappers, missionaries, mothers and lost children—all caught up in the crosscurrents of American history. A highly touching and believable tale."
—Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing
Review
“Lyrical and humorous . . . Helget deftly weaves political and social history into . . . a rich and intricate novel full of compassion for these pioneers and the place they live.” —
Saint Paul Pioneer Press “Told in a vigorous and warmly resonant prose that captures both the ridiculous and the sublime.” — Historical Novel Society
“In moments of barbarity and humility, violence and tenderness, greed and sacrifice, Helget leaves no saint without sin and no sinner without grace . . . What unfolds is a novel of portraiture — of characters, of industry, of an era and the cold realities that shaped it — that does not give up its moments of humanity lightly.”—Mankato Free Press
“In Stillwater, Helget’s latest novel, the twins grow up in a landscape filled with colorful characters: trappers, loggers, outlaws, nuns, Native Americans and runaway slaves. And the land itself is vibrant. You can see its significance from the very first words of the novel.” — NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday
“This one’s going to be a big deal. Helget’s new book, Stillwater, is so entertaining, inventive, outrageous and well-told that I’m imagining a thousand book clubs gathering over her words, filmmakers vying to make the movie, and a leap from mere critical acclaim to something more like celebrity for the Mankato writer.” — Minnpost
“Rousing fun.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Helget’s tale of frontier life in the territory of Minnesota gives stark meaning to the term ‘woebegone’ . . . This novel effectively dramatizes the seismic sociological shifts that shaped the American Midwest.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[Stillwater] often has a gothic feel, with madwomen, poisonings, and dead babies. But there is also an undercurrent of black humor, particularly in the portrayal of Beaver Jean, who is reprehensible but also a delightful comic creation.” — Library Journal
“A stunning achievement. Helget brings her keen sense for Southern Gothic to, of all places, the Northwoods of Minnesota. A fascinating story of a frontier logging town, this novel boasts a remarkable assortment of characters — Indians, slaves, trappers, missionaries, mothers and lost children — all caught up in the crosscurrents of American history. A highly touching and believable tale.” — Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing
“Make room Louise Erdrich, Minnesota has a new resident scribe. Rascally and robust, saucy and sincere and serious as a logjam, Stillwater is a celebration of this country’s coming of age from a writer staking her claim to greatness.” — Peter Geye, author of The Lighthouse Road
“A wonder of a novel, rich in history, humor and heart, with prose that flows and sparkles like a sunlit river.” — Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon and The Wilding
Synopsis
Fraternal twins, separated at birth, are raised in the same small town, where they struggle for freedom from their families, their destinies, and, sometimes, each other—all with the underground railroad as a haunting presence in their lives
Synopsis
Clement and Angel are fraternal twins separated at birth; they grow up in the same small, frontier logging town of Stillwater, Minnesota. Clement was left at the orphanage. Angel was adopted by the towns richest couple, but is marked and threatened by her mothers mental illness. They rarely meet, but Clement knows if he is truly in need, Angel will come to save him.
Stillwater, near the Mississippi River and Canada, becomes an important stop on the Underground Railroad. As Clement and Angel grow up and the country marches to war, their lives are changed by many battles for freedom and by losses in the struggle for independence, large and small.
Stillwater reveals the hardscrabble lives of pioneers, nuns, squaws, fur trappers, loggers, runaway slaves and freedmen, outlaws and people of conscience, all seeking a better, freer, more prosperous future. It is a novel about mothers, about siblings, about the ways in which we must take care of one another and let go of one another. And its brought to us in Nicole Helgets winning, gorgeous prose.
Synopsis
“Lyrical and humorous . . . A rich and intricate novel full of compassion for these pioneers and the place they live.” — Saint Paul Pioneer Press “Vibrant.” — NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday
"Told in a vigorous and warmly resonant prose that captures both the ridiculous and the sublime.” — Historical Novel Society
Clement and Angel are fraternal twins separated at birth; they grow up in the same small, frontier logging town of Stillwater, Minnesota. Clement was left at the orphanage. Angel was adopted by the town's richest couple, but is marked and threatened by her adoptive mother's manic attention. They rarely meet, but Clement knows if he is truly in need, Angel will come. They have both learned to survive at the edge of things — amid the hardscrabble lives of pioneers, nuns, fur trappers, loggers, runaway slaves and freedmen, outlaws and people of conscience, all seeking a freer, more prosperous future. Stillwater is a lyrical, vibrant, often hilarious, and always unforgettable journey into our past, ourselves, and the impulses that drive us to create, explore, and — sometimes — destroy.
Synopsis
A standout fiction debut by a prize-winning young writer whose memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways, was a favorite of critics and booksellers, Nicole Helgets fierce and lyrical memoir of growing up on a Minnesota dairy farm received widespread acclaim.
People magazine hailed the young authors ability to “take the messiest of lives and fashion something beautiful.”Here, in her first novel,Helget turns her extraordinary sensibility to a haunting love story with a heinous crime at its core.
In a rural Minnesota town of German immigrants in the tumultuous days ofWorldWar I, The Turtle Catcher brings together two misfits from warring clans. Liesel, the one girl in the upstanding family of Richter boys, harbors a secret about her body that thwarts all hope for a normal life.Her closest friend is Lester, the “slow” boy in the raffish Sutter family, a gentle, kind soul who spends his days trapping turtles in the lake. Yearning for human touch in the wake of her parents deaths, Liesel turns to her only friend—leading her brother, just returned from the war, to an act that will haunt not only both families but the entire town.
Helgets novel is a story of loyalty and betrayal that, like her earlier book, proves her uncommon understanding of the natural world and human frailties. Both moving and heartfelt, The Turtle Catcher confirms this young writers exceptional talent.
Synopsis
In the tumultuous days after World War I, Herman Richter returns from the front to find his only sister, Liesel, allied with Lester Sutter, the "slow" son of a rival clan who spends his days expertly trapping lake turtles. Liesel has sought Lesters friendship in the wake of her parents deaths and in the shadow of her own dark secret. But what begins as yearning for something of a human touch quickly unwinds into a shocking, suspenseful tragedy that haunts the rural town of New Germany, Minnesota, for generations.
Woven into this remarkable story are the intense, illuminating experiences of German immigrants in America during the war and the terrible choices they were forced to make in service of their new country or in honor of the old. The Turtle Catcher is a lyrical, vibrant, beautifully wrought look at a fascinating piece of American historyand the echoing dangers of family secrets.
About the Author
Born in 1976, NICOLE LEA HELGET grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, a childhood and place she drew on in the writing of her memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways. She received her BA and an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Based on the novels first chapter, NPRs Scott Simon awarded The Turtle Catcher the Tamarack Prize from Minnesota Monthly.