ONION AVENUE, A Novel by Nora Stangland McNab

ONION AVENUE

A Novel by Nora Stangland McNab
214 pages
6” x 9”
Softbound
$11.95
ISBN 0-942323-14-9

It was the late 1930s, with the country just coming out of the Great Depression, when Kate Morgan, city girl and interior decorator, realized her dream of living on a farm. As a bride, she moved to her husband’s 100-year-old Stangland family farm acquired by his Norwegian great-grandfather. But the dream meets with some harsh realities. Kate must keep house without electricity, without plumbing or running water and with all the uncertainties of growing onions on the black bottom land of northern Indiana. Through it all, Kate manages to get to the source of a long-standing family feud, but is unwittingly instrumental in linking a young neighbor with an unlikely suitor.

This novel has its roots in Nora McNab’s first historical novel, The Beckoning. In it she tells the story of Andreas Stangeland (later Andrew Stangland) her great-grandfather, as he cultivates his 48 acres in New York into an improved farm. He marries an American school teacher who has taught him to speak English. Eventually he trades his farm for 600 unseen acres in Indiana. The outcome of that transaction is the basis for Onion Avenue.

Mrs. McNab is a graduate of Perdue University, the mother of five and a great-grandmother. Along with raising her children, she was a preschool teacher in The Dalles, Oregon. Later, she operated a country inn in Underwood, Washington. She now lives with her husband, Jacques Moyse, in Portland, Oregon where she continues her writing.

In ONION AVENUE, Nora Stangland McNab shows the valor and fortitude of women tackling all kinds of situations occurring on a farm and how they adapt to a society with different ethnic backgrounds. Women who have experienced life in the country will enjoy the familiar scenes. Young people can learn in detail what life was like for their forebears and also about their moral values and ideals. – Johanna B. Fedde, Instructor in Norwegian (Retired), Portland State University