Looking Back: The Final Tale of Life on the Prairie

Butter in the Well #4

by Linda K. Hubalek

The Final Tale of Life on the Prairie
Book 4, Historical Diary 1919

The inevitable happens-time moves on and we grow older. Instead of our own little children surrounding us, grandchildren take their place. Each new generation lives in a new age of technology, not realizing the changes the generations before theirs has seen-and improved for them.

The cycle of life has change the prairie also. Endless waves of tall native prairie grass has been reduced to uniform rows of grain crops. The curves of the river have shifted over the decades, eroded by both man and nature. The majestic prairie has been tamed over time.

In this fourth book of the Butter in the Well series, Kajsa Svensson Runeberg, now age 75, looks back at the changes she has experienced on the farm she homesteaded 51 years ago. She reminisces about the past, resolves the present situation, and looks toward their future off the farm.

Don’t miss this heart-rending touching finale!

This book was the winner of two Silver CIPA Awards, for best ficition and book design.

Genres: Historical Fiction

142 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 1994

About the author

Linda Hubalek had written over fifty books about strong women and honorable men, with a touch of humor, despair, and drama woven into the stories. The setting for all the series is the Kansas prairie which Linda enjoys daily, be it being outside or looking out her office window.
Her historical romance series include Brides with Grit, Grooms with Honor, Mismatched Mail-order Brides, Rancher's Word, and the Clear Creek Legacy. Linda's historical fiction series, based on her ancestors' pioneer lives include, Butter in the Well, Trail of Thread, and Planting Dreams.
When not writing, Linda is reading (usually with dark chocolate within reach), gardening (channeling her degree in Horticulture), or traveling with her husband to explore the world.
Linda loves to hear from her readers and loves to know what they'd like to see her write next. Visit her website at www.LindaHubalek.com to contact her or read about all her books.

www.Facebook.com/lindahubalekbooks

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning repeated a lot of stuff from the earlier books but the last 100 pages were more interesting. Kind of a bitter-sweet look at having to leave your home and aging.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 4th book in the Butter in the Well series, about a Swedish immigrant family who homesteaded on a farm in Kansas in the 1860s, and their difficulties in taming the land and enduring the ravages of nature, accidents and diseases. In this novel the author's ancestor and her 2nd husband are in the process of selling their farm, where they have lived for more than 40 years and raised their children, and moving into town, and the matriarch of the family recounts many memories of her life on the prairie. It is very moving, depicting the difficulties that the pioneers faced in everyday life, and gives the reader a good sense of what life was like for those resilient people. I can't imagine going through the things they had to do every day just to feed, clothe and protect their families -- it was unbelievably difficult, and required a most stalwart disposition. I would have made a lousy pioneer! Hubalek's books are most intriguing, and she has obviously done a lot of research as to the daily lives of sodbusters.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary/Kajsa was definitely more personable in this book than the first one, since the author included thoughts and memories beyond all the facts. What dampened my rating was that the author included Kajsa's (and Peter's) death notices. I then realized she had died less that one year after the events in this book that detailed her leaving her beloved farming home for the city. That is just depressing.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than book two

I really enjoyed this final book in the series. The first book was great too but I can really feel for Mary as she gives up her house after 50 years to “retire” in town. It’s a simple book and story but very well written.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the 4th and final book in the Butter in the Well series. In this book, Kajsa (Mary was the Americanized version of her front name) Runeberg refl1ects back on all that has happened since she emigrated from Sweden to the United States and homesteaded land in northcentral Kansas in 1868. The time of the book is 1919 and Kajsa and her husband Peter are finally leaving the farm to move to town. She hosts her last Women's Missionary Society meeting to be held in that home and then helps with preparing for the sale of their farm machinery and livestock and it is in these activities that memories come to her mind which she shares. Although the book was interesting, it did not have the compelling interest for me that the first 2 books in the series did in which events were described in the her life and the members of her family as they occurred. However, for anyone interesting in reading about the lives of the pioneer families, I would definitely recommend it.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. We had moved from a house we had raised our family in 5 years ago. I can see how someone could get attached to the memories in a house. But leaving a farm had to be harder.

[Cws]

JF-YAHub