Overview

During the cold spring of 1942 in upstate New York, US government officials steal away German-born farmer Hans Muller in the middle of the night, leaving his wife and two sons alone and without explanation. Does Hans' odd obsession with his shortwave radio and foreign newspaper clippings mean that his quaint American life has been a lie? Or has the government made a horrible mistake that threatens to undo their family? Lucy Muller is met with furtive glances and outright prejudice. Her sons are bullied at school and confused by their father's absence. Hans tries to keep his head down and simply survive the camp's fences, guards, and fellow prisoners, as his frustration mounts. The Mullers each endeavor to redefine themselves and their places in society, and while some family bonds strengthen and others wear thin, the question of Hans' guilt or innocence looms over them all like a storm cloud. The first book in an ongoing series, Fertile Ground is a haunting drama that straddles both historical and contemporary fiction genres. Splitting the perspective between Hans and his wife Lucy, Ground speaks to both the mystery and pain of World War II internment experiences and the struggles and internal growth of a family ostracized from their small town

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9781910282229

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In his debut novel, 'Fertile Ground', Penn Stewart brings the past alive with the nuances of felt experience, providing the present with a resonance that makes us understand that no single person or individual country or culture stands alone. This is a riveting tale, a journey into a family facing chaos while it is taken apart piece by piece in the midst of World War II, dismantling not only the immigrant's dream of America, but also forcing them to forfeit every other dream too as they cling desperately to the shards that remain of themselves and each other. This novel possesses the kind of psychological insight only the best and truest writers can achieve as the plot twists and turns around the issues of loyalty and sabotage, home and homeland, family and its members. Penn Stewart writes with moral intelligence and fierce love of his characters embattled within their adopted country and trapped by the secrets lodged in their individual hearts. --Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife, Sweet Eyes, Acts of Love on Indigo Road, The Weight of Dreams, Strange Angels, A .38 Special and a Broken Heart, and other titles and collections 'Fertile Ground' is an ambitious novel set in the first months of WW II in a small town in upstate New York and North Dakota. It centers on a German immigrant family and the mystery of whether the husband is a Nazi sympathizer. Penn has created vivid characters, in particular the main character of Lucy, who struggles to believe her husband even as doubts pile up about his loyalty to the United States; when her husband is sent to an internment camp, Lucy must struggle with rumors that abound about her husband's whereabouts, the prejudice of the community towards her, and her challenges of raising two sons in her husband s absence. The novel is dramatically suspenseful, its ethical issues complex and provocative. It works as a riveting mystery novel as well as a thoughtful and perceptive exploration of loyalty and betrayal. --Judy Slater, author of The Baby Can Sing and other Stories - selected by Stuart Dybek as the 1998 Winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction In 'Fertile Ground', Penn Stewart expertly builds suspense with quiet gestures, articulating a family's fears and anxieties in the face of invasion, their small, simple lives suddenly complicated by world politics. A riveting mystery carries through this warm, heartfelt story of family, memory, and seeking forgiveness. --Timothy Schaffert- author of The Swan Gondola, The Coffins of Little Hope, The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters, The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God, and Devils in the Sugar Shop A rich, vital story of the home front. 'Fertile Ground' explores a little-known chapter of WWII history--the internment of German-Americans at a remote camp in North Dakota. This richly detailed novel takes us inside the marriage of Hans and Lucy Muller, where love and betrayal co-exist. -- Cary Holladay, author of Horse People: Stories

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