Fireweed

by Mildred Walker, Annick Smith (Introduction)

Mildred Walker was immediately recognized for the quality of her first fiction in 1934. Fireweed won the prestigious Avery and Jule Hopwood Award. The setting is a small lumber town in Upper Michigan, the stomping grounds of Paul Bunyan and the giants of Swedish, German, and Finnish lore. Young Celie and her husband, Joe Linsen, are the children of Scandinavian pioneers. Radios and flivvers have enlarged her world, and she longs to escape from an isolated place where wild violet fireweed grows to the edge of the woods.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

314 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Mildred Schemm Walker (May 2, 1905 – May 27, 1998) was an American novelist who published 12 novels and was nominated for the National Book Award. She graduated from Wells College and from the University of Michigan. She was a faculty member at Wells College from 1955 to 1968. Walker died in 1998 in Portland, Oregon.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Laurel Wicke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner by Mildred Walker. If I had any real pull in current culture, I'd fight for Mildred Walker to make a HUGE comeback. She is brilliant! Brilliant, I tell you! This one deals with a very young bride coming to terms with the life she has chosen; the hard realities of choice, that choosing demands that some dreams are given up; and the great lesson of finding the magic of ordinary days--the secret of contentment. It is written with a deceiving simplicity and a certain starkness that may fool some, but look closely: I think a woman may see herself there.

[Sallie Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was Mildred Walker’s first novel, it’s a somewhat simplistic and straightforward story about a young girl growing up in the backwoods country of Northern Michigan in the late 1920’s. Cecie Henderson is the only daughter of Swedish immigrants and she dreams of moving to the “big city” where there will be more amenities and life will be more exciting. But she is also attracted to Joe Linson, a big strapping hard working young man from her same remote logging town. They run away and marry before Cecie’s 17th birthday. The book is about Cecie’s own coming of age; Cecie had to grow up quickly, she had two babies before she was 19 years old. She had to find her happiness in the choices Joe and she make together, despite her wanderlust. When published in 1934, it was probably a contemporary work, but takes on a picaresque quality nearly 80 years later. I definitely enjoyed this one and would be interested to read some of Ms. Walker’s other works.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting is a small lumber town in northern Michigan where Celie Henderson grows up dreaming of the day she can leave this rural setting and live in a big city. She marries Joe Linsen, a man of Scandinavian heritage, who is perfectly happy to remain in a remote house in a remote little village.
Celie and Joe have two children through the years and through the years Celie believes Joe will get a better job in Clarion. Then news reports of the stock market crash come to the town. It means little to people who work from paycheck to paycheck and have no investments. The Depression doesn't seem to be very real where day to day life continues as usual for a time and until there is less and less demand for the lumber produced by the men working in the mill.
Mildred Walker has a straight-forward, honest writing style. She develops complex and interesting characters placed in settings we can understand.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting mostly because I grew up in the area. Sad to read about the dying of the little lumber mill towns. And sad to imagine Celie's future. Without birth control, she'll be haggard by the time she is thirty.

[Reff Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

First novel about a girl who becomes a woman, a wife, and a mother in a mill town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Celie longs to leave for the bigger pleasures of Detroit, but instead marries Joe and ends up staying in the company town even after the Great Crash closes the timber mill. Walker is clever at describing the mill life and the scenic, harsh beauty of UP. Celie thinks she is different than her immigrant folks Christina and Ole, but her life turns out very much like her mother's. At the end of the story, she clings to the hope that her children's lives will play out differently. I guess this story is about how we make peace with our lives, finding fleeting happiness and stability in a situation that essentially doesn't change. Not Walker's best novel, but worth reading for a good old-fashioned story about a localized immigrant experience.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of regional writers, then you absolutely need to read Mildred Walker. This is her first novel, published in 1934 and set in Michigan's upper peninsula. Most of her fiction is set in Montana and her book Winter Wheat still stands as one of my favorite books of all time. She has a simple style but she captures the emotions of her characters and the settings so well. In Fireweed, she perfectly tells the experiences of a young, hopeful Swedish girl from a small mill town and her life as a new mother. It reminded me of my own first years as a mom- how even the sound of your own voice begins to sound foreign in the quiet of the apartment and you would do just about anything to have a reason to dress up and go out. There are some poignant moments in this one and I continue to be a huge fan of Mildred Walker.

[Cris Roll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I found it by accident while browsing at the library. It's about the people in a small mill town on Lake Superior. My mother grew up in such a town in the same era that Fireweed takes place. Shelldrake no longer exists. My grandfather was the engineer at the mill on the shores of Lake Superior. The mill burned a couple of times. After it burned the second time, it was never rebuilt, so my grandfather moved the growing family to Sault Ste. Marie. My mother told me so many stories about growing up in Shelldrake. Reading Fireweed brought many of those memories back to me.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of the Little House books, from an older teenager/young 20 year old’s perspective and living in Michigan’s upper peninsula for the setting. During the depression, Celie and her young family survive in their small mill town. Things are lonely and difficult in the severe winters, Celie always talks about leaving for a better life. Things change when typhoid strikes the community and the mill closes.

[Lorraine McCleary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Mildred Walker's first prize winning novel about a young girl in the logging town of Michigan's UP in the 30's. She is torn between trying to go down state to the bigger cities versus wanting to stay in the beauty of the UP. A lovely, rather timeless novel of trying to decide on big city life versus the rural life where you were raised.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Mildred Walker's first novel from 1934 about a young Swedish American girl in a lumber town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She works, marries, yearns, starts a family and her expectations in life evolve. Like all her books, it is a wonderful read and has well developed characters and situations. If you are a fan of Ms. Walker, this is not to be missed...

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle story of ordinary peoples' lives...

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic novel about a young couple’s life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the Great Depression.

[Tashina Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and still relevant today. I like the way her books make you feel a certain way, like she's directing you into a very specific mood.

[Luke]

First published 1934.

[Mary Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fireweed is the story of a young woman who grows up in a logging/mill town on the upper peninsula of Michigan. Cele has big dreams of leaving the town for Detroit or any city; she marries Joe who works at the lumber mill with the hope that they will both leave. Two children arrive and it becomes clear that Joe wants to stay on at the mill. Set during the beginning days of the Great Depression, Cele’s restlessness and loneliness play a major role in the story. The character is somewhat reminiscent of Willa Cather’s stories of women living in the Great Plains.

Walker writes beautifully both in describing the hard life and letting you into the characters’ thoughts. I read Winter Wheat some time ago and always wanted to read another by Walker. Her books were written in the 1930’s and are set in that time period. I highly recommend either of the books if you want a story with good character development and universal themes.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Several years ago my sister gave me "Winter Wheat" by Mildred Walker and I loved it. Recently I discovered more books by Walker, and was excited to dive in to another. But this Fireweed was a disappointment. It was her first novel, and it shows. The story is verrry slooow with not much development or details. A sad story, too, of unfulfilled dreams and being resigned to a life you don't want but can't change. Maybe I will try another of hers, but it will be a novel from later in her career.

[Judy Mroz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good depiction of life in a lumbering town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the depression era. Heroine is the prettiest girl in town who has big dreams and wants to get out of this town and go to the city. Of course, her hopes are dashed and she gets pregnant and has to stay. There's a lot of description to wade through. Characters are fairly well drawn, but the story is really innocent by today's standards.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting look back at life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before and during the Depression. It looks at the hard scrabble life that hardy UPers led and in which some found happiness.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright. Not exactly extremely memorable.

[Jennifer Louden]

I love Mildred Walker. A strong, simple, beguiling old fashioned novel. Winter Wheat is even better!

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! It's my third Mildred Walker book, and it's marvelous--as good as WINTER WHEAT and better than THE CURLEW'S CRY. I'm grateful for talented writers.

[Sylvia Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting of this story- a lumber mill town in Michigan's UP, during the Depression days- was a source of fascination for me. The characters were likeable, but rather two-dimensional.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

"learning to stay put." A really nice book, with some lovely descriptions of the area, Upper Michigan. Celie and Joe are real people.