More than a Dozen Summers
is the third book in my "Margaret" trilogy. The story is about three girls who become best friends in sixth grade in a northern Minnesota Scandinavian community called Norden. Each girl has a loss that they work to overcome plus learning to grow up in a quiet community that is becoming more worldly. Margaret, the main character, is coming out of her grief from losing her mother in a car accident and is determined that this year, she will meet her best forever friends. Grandma Olson, her father's mother, is a huge influence in her life and helps raise her. The three girls, Margaret, Bridget, and Mary Elizabeth face all kinds of problems. First the typical things coming-of-age girls face like puberty. Add boyfriends and the desire to be popular. But, there is evil and good everywhere, and they deal with racial prejudice, bullies, competition, poverty, addiction, religious judgment, and many other things. The stories capture the culture at that time and the history, which is full of rioting, protesting, assassinations, civil rights issues, the Hippie movement, and many more things going on at that time. It is difficult sometimes to learn that there is good and evil everywhere. The story begins in 1956 and ends in 1970. If you are a baby boomer and lived through those years, this is your book. It will bring back many memories to you. The first two "Margaret" books are at the beginning of this novel.
The last book,
A Dozen Summers,
completes the trilogy and the story.