Tamarack River Ghost

by Jerry Apps

When journalist Josh Wittmore moves from the Illinois bureau of Farm Country News to the newspaper’s national office in Wisconsin, he encounters the biggest story of his young career—just as the paper’s finances may lead to its closure.
    Josh’s big story is that a corporation that plans to establish an enormous hog farm has bought a lot of land along the Tamarack River in bucolic Ames County. Some of the local residents and officials are excited about the jobs and tax revenues that the big farm will bring, while others worry about truck traffic, porcine aromas, and manure runoff polluting the river. And how would the arrival of a large agribusiness affect life and traditions in this tightly knit rural community of family farmers? Josh strives to provide impartial agricultural reporting, even as his newspaper is replaced by a new Internet-only version owned by a former New York investment banker. And it seems that there may be another force in play: the vengeful ghost of a drowned logger who locals say haunts the valley of the Tamarack River.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2012

About the author

Jerold W. Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 30 books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include: Living a Country Year, Every Farm Tells a Story, When Chores Were Done, Humor from the Country, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Schools, Cheese, Breweries of Wisconsin, Ringlingville USA (History of Ringling Brothers circus), Old Farm: A History, Barns of Wisconsin, Horse Drawn Days: A Century of Farming With Horses, and Campfires and Loon Calls. His children's books include: Stormy, Eat Rutabagas, Tents, Tigers and the Ringling Brothers, and Casper Jaggi: Master Swiss Cheese Maker. He has an audio book, The Back Porch and Other Stories. Jerry has published four novels, The Travels of Increase Joseph, In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story, Blue Shadows Farm and Cranberry Red. Jerry is a former publications editor for UW-Extension, an acquisitions editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company, and editor of a national professional journal.

Jerry has won awards for his writing from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Library Association (the 2007 Notable Authors Award), American Library Association, Foreword Magazine, Midwest Independent Publishers Association, Robert E. Gard Foundation, The Wisconsin Council for Writers (the 2007 Major Achievement Award), Upper Midwest Booksellers, and Barnes and Noble Bookstores, among others. In 2010 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Check www.jerryapps.com for more information.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most interesting part of the book is that the setting was here in Wisconsin just a short distance from where I live so that made it more interesting. I also think that I does hit home a little because it talks about factory farms and that seems to be the way the world is going and I live on and operate a small family farm with my husband.

[Emma Jones]

I really like reading Jerry Apps books. A former agriculture extension agent, he is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. :The press is the watchdog for our society, has been, and will always be. What goes on in society needs watching, especially so in agriculture. This book is fiction based on what is going on in Wisconsin today.

[Joyce Ziebell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the ghost scare you. This book details a very important topic on how farming has changed and is continuing to change to corporate run farms. The story is based in rural Wisconsin, a locale Jerry Apps know well and has written many books about. Yes it's folksy, but overall the main characters are well rounded and great.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of mystery, a bit of love story, a bit of small town Wisconsin. Enjoyable.

[Cindee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book for my book club. It is set close to home. I enjoyed Mr. Apps writing and will be looking soon to read another of his books