Ice-Out

by Mary Casanova

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Pub Date Sep 01 2016 | Archive Date Dec 08 2016

University of Minnesota Press | Univ Of Minnesota Press

Children's Fiction

Description

Walking on thin ice: on Rainy Lake, in the northern reaches of Minnesota, it's more than a saying. And for Owen Jensen, nineteen and suddenly responsible for keeping his mother and five brothers alive, the ice is thin indeed.

Ice-Out returns to the frigid and often brutal Prohibition-era borderland of Mary Casanova's beloved novel Frozen, and to the characters who made it a favorite among readers of all ages. Owen, smitten with Frozen's Sadie Rose, is struggling to make something of himself at a time when no one seems to hold the moral high ground. Bootlegging is rife, corruption is rampant, and lumber barons run roughshod over the people and the land. As hard as things seem when his father dies, stranding his impoverished family, they get considerably tougher—and more complicated—when Owen gets caught up in the suspicious deaths of a sheriff and deputy on the border.

Inspired by real events in early 1920s Minnesota, and by Mary Casanova's own family history, Ice-Out is at once a story of young romance against terrible odds and true grit on the border between license and responsibility, rich and poor, and right and wrong in early twentieth-century America.

Walking on thin ice: on Rainy Lake, in the northern reaches of Minnesota, it's more than a saying. And for Owen Jensen, nineteen and suddenly responsible for keeping his mother and five brothers...

Advance Praise

"With compelling detail, Mary Casanova weaves true historical characters and events with the fictional story of young Owen, a character determined to fight the odds. In this gripping adventure, Rainy Lake becomes a metaphor for life and possibilities: the deadly risks of the capricious ice in winter, the strength that comes from natural beauty."—Polly Carlson-Voiles, author of Summer of the Wolves

"Mary Casanova gives us the best of historical fiction: characters you love and love to travel with in a critical time in American history. Following Owen Jensen through his coming-of-age year in northern Minnesota during Prohibition is a rugged joy. This is a great book."—Chris Crutcher, author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Whale Talk

"A historical novel that makes the past as fresh and compelling as the present, Ice-Out is a story of dreams, determination, loyalty, and the greys that infuse black and white issues. Mary Casanova has created a hero we cheer for as he struggles to surmount obstacles placed before him by the times, by place, and by his own choices."—Lorna Landvik, author of Best to Laugh and Mayor of the Universe

"A unique look at a familiar period in history. " —Kirkus Reviews