The Glory of Ordinary Time & Other Stories

Prepare to enjoy an incredible, soulful collection of short stories of the frontier from Spur Award winning author Candace Simar. These four stories—two told from the perspective of women, and two from men—examine everyday life and the human condition with a graceful, witty style and the candor one would expect from a writer of Simar’s stature.

In the title story, The Glory of Ordinary Time, Zita Vogel refuses offers of marriage from Wisconsin farmers. She dreams of a different life, a life of prayer, education, and opportunities for service as a Catholic nun. She is a tomboy, and an unlikely candidate. Her father finally gives permission for her to join a Benedictine Convent in frontier Minnesota. It proves more difficult than expected. Will she ever wear the black and white habit of a fully professed sister?

In Widow’s Weeds, Bethy Jane hides in the swamp to protect her unborn baby as Sioux warriors attack her homestead. She will not give up without a fight.

In Dear Homefolks, Axel Olson writes letters to his family back in Norway, bragging of crops and livestock, and sharing only the good news. He leaves out his son’s illness, Sissel’s miscarriages, and the loss of his milk cow. America is more difficult than he expected, and now his wife is with child again—though the midwife warns she will not survive another childbed.

In the final story, The Joy of Life, Magnus Lokstad sits alone in his frontier dugout on Christmas Eve, listening to the silence that surrounds him. His dreams of riches in America are shattered. An unexpected midnight visitor brings a most unusual cure for his desperate situation.