Sarah Stonich / Shelter

Common Good Books celebrates the book launch of

Minnesotan author Sarah Stonich's new memoir, Shelter.

Sarah Stonich is a recipient of the Loft/McKnight Award for Fiction,

a Jerome Foundation Grant, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.

She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

A newly divorced Stonich finds herself yearning for a piece of land to
call her own, that perfect spot on a lake, tall pines, a sense of
permanence, a legacy for her son, and a connection to her paternal
heritage.

"Perfect" turns out to be roadless, raw wilderness near where her
immigrant grandparents settled a century before and where the family
name is now a postscript. Stonich recalls stories of her relatives,
meets admirable and remarkable characters in the community, considers
another go at love, and, finally, builds a small cabin. But when
"progress" threatens to slice her precious patch of land in half, she
must come to terms with the fact that a family legacy is no less
valuable with or without a piece of earth.

"How do we value the land? Through the story of her tiny cabin in the
woods, Sarah Stonich suggests that the truest sense of place may be
found not on the ground but in our hearts." --Michael Perry, author of Population: 485, Truck: A Love Story, and Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg