A very interesting account of the authors search into her families homesteading in western North Dakota in the early years of the 20th century, and the following impact of the fracking industry on the state approximately 100 years later. Interesting to me as my family also homsteaded in western North Dakota.

I tried to like this book even though it’s very different from what I normally read. There were some historical parts and tidbits about climate change that were interesting but the flow of everything was super awkward to me. Very, very dry reading. Mixing in the fertility journey still felt pointless no matter how much I relate to it.

🌀Synopsis
Erika finds out that her great grandmother had mineral rights on her homestead in North Dakota while her mom is dying. She immediately sees them as a way for their family to get rich.

She sets out to explore North Dakota and learn more about what mineral rights mean and how the companies operate. What she finds is a struggling industry that seems to be very up or very down and she sees direct impact of that in the state. She also learns a lot about climate change- what’s behind it, what’s causing it, how she feels about it.

Ultimately, she set out to find a windfall of money from the mineral rights but ended up completely changing her opinions.

I couldn't get into Windfall by Erika Bolstad. Unfortunately it is a DNF, but I appreciate the opportunity of an advanced reader copy. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I did like the fact that the author went searching to understand her ancestors in North Dakota. It was sad to read what happened to some of her family members. It was an informative read about oil drilling and fracking; how this affects the environment.

Congratulations to Erika Bolstad for her efforts to research thoroughly her great grandmother Anna. Anna had family land in North Dakota, Erika documents her journey to uncover Anna’s heritage and the truth of her life.
Although Anna’s story is moving and Erika provides intricate details to reveal how her life unfolded, I struggled to keep interested in the specifics.
I didn’t find the story or characters relatable or worthy of a high recommendation unfortunately.

Thanks to Sourcebooks, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Windfall is the story of Erika Bolstad trying to understand her great grandmother's life, as well as what it means to hold mineral rights on her family's land today. In attempting to uncover the truth about her great grandmother, Bolstad goes on a journey of discovery, with the phrase her family has whispered for generations as her guide- "We could be rich".
Through her research, Bolstad does uncover truths about her great grandmother's life that were surprising, but she also uncovers truths about the fossil fuel industry and what it is continuing to do to the land and the environment. The book is exceptionally well researched, and it does a good job of showing the environmental consequences of fracking and drilling for oil without sounding preachy.
Bolstad weaves the story of the environment with the story of her great grandmother, and her own story as she struggles with some big life questions of her own. In the end, she is able to understand what being rich means to her and her family. She is able to find herself and her path forward only after truly understanding her great grandmother's journey and sacrifice.
The book is both educational, and also a touching story of family, love and loss.

I cannot get invested in this book. The politics, oil industry information, etc…….very underwhelming and uninteresting to me, albeit well researched. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for granting me this ARC. .

I requested this title from NetGalley as it sounded like an interesting, emotional family saga set in the oil country of North Dakota. While the family history and secrets that were uncovered were very interesting, that's only a small part of the contents of the book. I enjoyed the personal parts of the story, but the majority of the book was filled with oil-industry facts, politics, racial injustices, gender inequality, and climate change. All these issues were very well researched and presented intelligently. I feel bad giving such a low rating to this book, but it was not what I expected or wanted to read. I'm sure folks who enjoy more political, fact-filled non-fiction will love this book!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley for review. Historical fiction and recent time combined. I don't usually like the dual timelines, but this author has written a book that is a cannot put down. What will the protagonist do next? Likable characters...a history of what could happen...what did happen...what might have happened...I look forward to more books by this author. Don't miss dwelling into the past...what might unfold.

“Windfall” is a memoir by Erika Bolstad. In this book, Ms. Bolstad hunts for documentation about her great-grandmother, Anna, to discover why Anna had land in North Dakota and what happened to her and the land.

I always feel bad when I give someone’s memoir a low rating. I’m not saying that the person led a boring or uninteresting life (like Anna, I also have a family member who, back in the same period, suffered from post-partum depression and was committed to an asylum). I found Anna’s story to be rather moving, including Ms. Bolstad’s digging into newspapers, county records, and trying to puzzle out - like many armchair genealogists - what Anna’s life was like. It’s always interesting to wonder “why was this done” to folks in our past - sometimes the answers are simple and sometimes we’ll just never be able to puzzle out why something was done. I wasn’t always so enamored with the book when it came to the oil industry parts of this book. I fully understand that, as a journalist with that as her interest, of course Ms. Bolstad will focus on that - after all, her family owns the mineral rights to a plot of land near where oil companies are searching for oil - but, for me, those sections took away from Anna’s story. Ms. Bolstad obviously researched both Anna’s story - as well as the oil industry story, but I didn’t feel like they always meshed together well.

A beautiful story of.a family and the author’s journey to understand where she comes from, set against the backdrop of the oil business. Reminiscent of Rick Bragg, a great read for those that enjoy family sagas.