The Sacred Wood in Bloomington, MN

TThe Sacred Wood
is a Christian-themed historical fiction about an old-line extended family of craftsmen, particularly woodworkers, who seek a place to live where they can practice their faith in peace and honor God.The story is loosely based on the early persecutions of Catholics in England under the rule of King Henry VIII and the resulting immigration of that family to the New World. The family in the story helps establish a colony in the new land, and through working with the natives and employing their craftsman skills find great success in their new life. Several years later, authorities from the Old World arrive and begin persecutions of the family once again. The persecutions begin subtly but quickly increase in severity to the point where the family elders determine they can no longer successfully live in the colony.The story describes the family's struggles and successes as they gather their belongings and being their trek westward into the wilderness, seeking land far away from the colony and Old-World authorities where they can establish a homestead at which they can live their lives according to their faith in obedience to God and in harmony with the world He created. Since the central craft practiced by the family was woodworking, the various varieties of wood utilized by the family at their new homestead are described along with native tales and Biblical tales of the significance of each wood type.Throughout, the family explains why the wood that is at the center of their livelihood is sacred.