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Flesh on the Bone: 3rd in a Trilogy of an American Family Immigration Saga

Karen Schutte (Goodreads Author),

Dorthea Lange (Photographs),

Lewis Hines (Photographs)

3.75 · Rating details · 4 ratings · 2 reviews

It's the Roaring Twenties, Jake and Raisa Kessel are married with two kids and a pile of growing debt. They need a change, some new pickings. They pack up for the bright lights and new opportunity in Port Huron, Michigan. They are living high on the hog; overnight, Jake finds himself standing in endless soup lines and even longer job lines. It's The Great Depression. Jake It's the Roaring Twenties, Jake and Raisa Kessel are married with two kids and a pile of growing debt. They need a change, some new pickings. They pack up for the bright lights and new opportunity in Port Huron, Michigan. They are living high on the hog; overnight, Jake finds himself standing in endless soup lines and even longer job lines. It's The Great Depression. Jake knows he has to make some 'fast money' to get his family back to Wyoming, even if it might be illegal or dangerous. Back in a Lovell, Wyoming share cropper's shack, Jake and Raisa struggle to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. Raisa isn't cut out to do the hard physical field work and soon she's down to the flesh on her bones; she gives Jake an ultimatum. It's just the push Jake needed as they move off the rented farm and into their own tar-papered home in town. Then, Japanese bombs fall on Pearl Harbor and everything changes. The government needs men to build the Heart Mountain relocation camp and Jake signs on. Months later, Jake takes a job with Marathon Oil giving him a steady pay check and a retirement plan. The tide has turned, life is good. Their only son enlists to fight in WWII in Europe and they each have brothers who are Japanese POW's. Who will come home and who won't? What does the end of their life together bring? Who will be the first to die? Life is not always what it promises or seems and sometimes it breaks a person. When Jake is left alone after Raisa dies, he's like a boat without a rudder. What does he do to fill the void? He and longtime friend, Pastor Floyd Schweiger take an interest in saving the Pryor Mountain wild horses-but will this diversion fill his lonesome nights without Raisa? Third in the trilogy, Flesh on the Bone is a touching, realistic account of a true American family, filled with ambition, promises, love and loss; it is a legacy of surviving the ups and downs of life. The novel twists and turns through family stories passed down and fleshed out with imagination and carefully researched historical events. Schutte lays the tension, poverty, and daily grind of the lives of her characters on the table. She has a knack for getting into their heads and hearts and taking the reader with her. This---is a family saga, a story of the personal struggles of the immigrant's children! ...more

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Paperback, 350 pages

Published June 12th 2014 by Green Spring Publishing

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Feb 08, 2015 Shawn rated it it was amazing

Karen Schutte put together another great read! I really felt the joys and sorrows of Jake and Raisa Kessel as they lived their full adventurous lives together in Michigan and Lovell, Wyoming. It is heartening to read stories like these and really puts into focus the idea that family counts above all else. Schutte's descriptions of eras of Prohibition, the Great Depression and the war years ring true and I love the way she painted the simple heroism of that generation. It was difficult to read ab ...more

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May 22, 2015 Judy rated it really liked it

Shelves: page-turners-past

This third installment in the trilogy by Karen Shcutte was probably my favorite. Maybe because the time frame was more familiar. I figure I am really close to Karlie's age and so I remember lots of events and trappings of the 1950-1990 time period.

Karen weaves a wonderful story of her grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles. It felt very real and it shows that there are lots of true stories made even better by some good writing. ...more

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About Karen Schutte

Karen Schutte

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I am a 2nd generation German American and a historical novelist. I write books/stories based on my family history. Born and raised in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming, I graduated from UW with a degree in Design Mktg. I was a professional interior designer ASID for 25 years. Now I WRITE and WRITE! THE TICKET, SEED OF THE VOLGA, FLESH ON THE BONE, and THE TANK COMMANDER---a series of four family saga ...more