Hired as a nanny to Caleb Wachsmann’s three children, Sarah Bentley finds life in the Wisconsin Territory to be so much more.
Title: A Dream in the Wilderness
Author: Jean Hackensmith
Pages: 285
Genre: Historical Romance
Unable to find a teaching position in the flooded job market that is New York City, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Bentley accepts the position of nanny to Caleb Wachsmann’s three children after the farmer’s wife, parents, and infant son die in the Cholera epidemic of 1834. The twist? The job is in Superior, Wisconsin in the Michigan Territory, an unsettled wilderness located on the northwestern tip of Lake Superior.
Caleb is not looking for love; his heart will always belong to his beloved Annie. What he does need is a woman to watch after the children while he toils in the fields making a living for his family. Sarah turns out to be that woman. She raises his children with a gentle and loving hand and also helps Caleb to overcome an unbearable loss. As Wisconsin vies for statehood, the young couple will face challenge after challenge as they struggle to tame a wilderness that really doesn’t want to be tamed at all.
A Dream in the Wilderness is available at https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Wilderness-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B0DJS19HMH.
INTERVIEW:
Can you tell us when you started writing?
I started writing over 40 years ago, when I was in my early twenties (and, yes, I'm disclosing my age!) I was an avid reader of Kathleen Woodiwiss romance novels, so naturally that was the type of book I chose to write...steamy historical romances. I found an agent, who actually came to my house for a week and helped me to edit my first manuscript. That manuscript never did sell, but what I learned from that agent has been invaluable over the years.
Can you tell me who or what the inspiration for the book was?
I've always wanted to do a series of books set in my hometown. This is it. Superior, Wisconsin sits at the northwestern tip of Lake Superior and is rich in history. It shares a harbor with Duluth, MN--the largest port on Lake Superior. The series starts with "A Dream In The Wilderness," which begins in the year 1834, long before Superior was ever founded in 1854. Basically, there was a trading post and Native Americans. My family was the first to settle in Superior before it ever became Superior.
Can you tell us how you came up with your title?
Northern Wisconsin was all wilderness back in 1834. In fact, it was said that a squirrel could cross the state without ever having to touch the ground. That's how thick the forests were. My main character, Sarah Bentley, dreams of becoming a teacher. That dream is realized in the Wisconsin wilderness, hence the title.
Can you tell us a little about your main characters?
Caleb Wachsmann is a widower with three small children. His wife, parents, and youngest child all died in the cholera epidemic of 1834. A dedicated father, Caleb does his best to care for the children properly after their mother's death, but is quick to realize he needs help. He then runs an ad in a New York newspaper for a nanny. Enter Sarah Bentley. Sarah has just graduated from a prestigious teaching college, but is frustrated when she realizes that every other educated woman in New York was also seeking a job as a teacher. She sees Caleb's ad in the newspaper and takes it as an omen. She travels to Wisconsin to become a nanny, but never abandons her dream of becoming a teacher. She also never dreams that she would fall in love with the children or their father.
What’s next on your writing to-do list?
After taking a little break, I intend to start on Book Four of the Brian Koski Stalker Series. It will revolve around four young men (one of them actually just a boy) who are convicted of murdering their parents and younger brother and sister while on a camping trip. Brian's firm is hired by the boys' aunt to prove their innocence.
Can you tell us when you started writing?
I started writing over 40 years ago, when I was in my early twenties (and, yes, I'm disclosing my age!) I was an avid reader of Kathleen Woodiwiss romance novels, so naturally that was the type of book I chose to write...steamy historical romances. I found an agent, who actually came to my house for a week and helped me to edit my first manuscript. That manuscript never did sell, but what I learned from that agent has been invaluable over the years.
Can you tell me who or what the inspiration for the book was?
I've always wanted to do a series of books set in my hometown. This is it. Superior, Wisconsin sits at the northwestern tip of Lake Superior and is rich in history. It shares a harbor with Duluth, MN--the largest port on Lake Superior. The series starts with "A Dream In The Wilderness," which begins in the year 1834, long before Superior was ever founded in 1854. Basically, there was a trading post and Native Americans. My family was the first to settle in Superior before it ever became Superior.
Can you tell us how you came up with your title?
Northern Wisconsin was all wilderness back in 1834. In fact, it was said that a squirrel could cross the state without ever having to touch the ground. That's how thick the forests were. My main character, Sarah Bentley, dreams of becoming a teacher. That dream is realized in the Wisconsin wilderness, hence the title.
Can you tell us a little about your main characters?
Caleb Wachsmann is a widower with three small children. His wife, parents, and youngest child all died in the cholera epidemic of 1834. A dedicated father, Caleb does his best to care for the children properly after their mother's death, but is quick to realize he needs help. He then runs an ad in a New York newspaper for a nanny. Enter Sarah Bentley. Sarah has just graduated from a prestigious teaching college, but is frustrated when she realizes that every other educated woman in New York was also seeking a job as a teacher. She sees Caleb's ad in the newspaper and takes it as an omen. She travels to Wisconsin to become a nanny, but never abandons her dream of becoming a teacher. She also never dreams that she would fall in love with the children or their father.
What’s next on your writing to-do list?
After taking a little break, I intend to start on Book Four of the Brian Koski Stalker Series. It will revolve around four young men (one of them actually just a boy) who are convicted of murdering their parents and younger brother and sister while on a camping trip. Brian's firm is hired by the boys' aunt to prove their innocence.
Can you tell me about your experiences finding a publisher for the book?
My last seven books I have self-published through Amazon.com and this one is no exception. I've had two traditional publishers over the years, and find self-publishing totally liberating. I get to choose when the book is released, not the publisher. I get to decide on what I want for a cover, not the publisher. I work at my own pace, with no deadlines, which is also very important to me. Strangely, I've also had better success since I started self-publishing, also. My historical romance, "The Promise", which is set during the 1930's Dust Bowl era, is my best seller to date, having sold over 20,000 copies. I am proud to say that, for the first time in my writing career, I could support myself off my writing if it became necessary.
If you were going to hang out with one of your characters, who would that be?
Sarah Bentley. She is my kind of girl. She's tough when she needs to be, yet gentle and understanding with the children. She has a dream and pursues it doggedly. And she knows how to love. What more could you want as a woman?
What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?
I absolutely LOVE live theater, especially musicals. In fact, I founded our community theater in Superior back in 1992 and since that time, have directed upwards of 60 shows. I also appeared ON stage a couple of times, playing Anna in "The King and I" and Miss Hannigan in "Annie." Other than that, I love to camp, travel, do paint by numbers, and knit.
How long did it take you to write the book, and how long did it take to get published?
I wrote "Dream" in about 2 months. And, as I already stated, I self-published the book through Amazon.
Do you have any tips for a young writer just starting out?
Don't give up. Keep writing, writing, writing. I was an editor for a publishing company for eight years, and watched so many authors grow just through the writing process itself. The more you write, the better you get. It's inevitable. And don't be afraid of self-publishing if you think it's for you. There used to be a stigma attached to it, but there isn't anymore.
Can you tell me where we can purchase your book?
All of my books are available exclusively on Amazon.com
My last seven books I have self-published through Amazon.com and this one is no exception. I've had two traditional publishers over the years, and find self-publishing totally liberating. I get to choose when the book is released, not the publisher. I get to decide on what I want for a cover, not the publisher. I work at my own pace, with no deadlines, which is also very important to me. Strangely, I've also had better success since I started self-publishing, also. My historical romance, "The Promise", which is set during the 1930's Dust Bowl era, is my best seller to date, having sold over 20,000 copies. I am proud to say that, for the first time in my writing career, I could support myself off my writing if it became necessary.
If you were going to hang out with one of your characters, who would that be?
Sarah Bentley. She is my kind of girl. She's tough when she needs to be, yet gentle and understanding with the children. She has a dream and pursues it doggedly. And she knows how to love. What more could you want as a woman?
What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?
I absolutely LOVE live theater, especially musicals. In fact, I founded our community theater in Superior back in 1992 and since that time, have directed upwards of 60 shows. I also appeared ON stage a couple of times, playing Anna in "The King and I" and Miss Hannigan in "Annie." Other than that, I love to camp, travel, do paint by numbers, and knit.
How long did it take you to write the book, and how long did it take to get published?
I wrote "Dream" in about 2 months. And, as I already stated, I self-published the book through Amazon.
Do you have any tips for a young writer just starting out?
Don't give up. Keep writing, writing, writing. I was an editor for a publishing company for eight years, and watched so many authors grow just through the writing process itself. The more you write, the better you get. It's inevitable. And don't be afraid of self-publishing if you think it's for you. There used to be a stigma attached to it, but there isn't anymore.
Can you tell me where we can purchase your book?
All of my books are available exclusively on Amazon.com
Book Excerpt
August 21, 1834
Caleb Wachsmann stood before the four open graves, his two eldest children on either side of him and the youngest in his arms. His entire body was numb. It still didn’t seem possible that all four of them could be gone. But they were. Cholera had taken them systematically, one by one. His father. His mother. His beloved wife, Annie, the mother of his children. His gaze settled on the last coffin, no more than three feet long. Inside was his six-month-old son, Danny.
Caleb and the older children got sick first. Caleb’s mother had been through other cholera epidemics and knew exactly what to do. They started boiling the drinking water from the nearby St. Louis River and, between her and Annie, and even his father, had forced tons of the bacteria-free water down their throats to prevent dehydration. At one time, Caleb joked that he thought he was going to float away.
He and the older children recovered. Then the rest of the family got sick. The rapid deterioration in their conditions made it impossible for Caleb to keep up with the hydration on all four of his patients. Danny was the first to succumb to the disease. He lasted only 24-hours after the first symptoms appeared. The others lasted two to three days.
Caleb couldn’t help but blame himself. He was responsible for their care, and he had failed.
“Pa?”
Caleb didn’t hear his son’s voice. He was too lost in his thoughts and his grief.
A yank on his shirt sleeve brought him back to reality.
“Pa!”
“What, Seth?” he asked with exasperation heavy in his tone as he looked down at the carrot-topped, freckle-faced boy before him. In fact, all of the children were the spitting image of their mother, and it made looking at them all the more painful.
“Why did we put Grandpa and Grandma and Ma and Danny in the ground? Grandma and Ma aren’t going to like it at all, cuz they don’t like to get dirty.”
Caleb stooped before his eight-year-old son, placing two-year-old Bethany on his knee, then indicated for the five-year-old Jenny to come closer, also. “Remember how I told you that your ma and Danny and your grandma and grandpa are in Heaven with God now?”
The two older children nodded.
“You see, what we put in the ground wasn’t your Mama and Danny anymore, or your grandma and grandpa. The part of her that made your mama your mama and Danny, Danny already went to Heaven.”
“Like their ghosts, you mean?” Seth asked.
“Their spirits,” Caleb corrected. “What’s in the ground is just what was left over and, in time, that part of them will go back to the ground.”
“But it still kinda looked like Ma when you and Father Hauley put the cover on the box,” Seth argued.
Caleb sighed his resignation. “Yes, it did. I don’t know how to explain it better, Seth. When you get older, you’ll understand.”
“So, who’s gonna take care of us now, Pa?” Jenny asked. “Mama and Grandma always took care of us when you and Grandpa were out in the fields plantin’ stuff.”
“I haven’t figured that out yet, honey, but I will.”
The little girl’s green eyes teared and her face scrunched up with her sadness. “I miss Mama, Pa. I want her to come back.”
The sight of his sister’s anguish brought renewed tears to Seth’s eyes also, and Caleb pulled both of them close. Bethany put pudgy arms around her older brother and sister and joined in the hug.
The traveling priest who had performed the ceremony, the only other person present at the burial, looked on in sympathy when he considered what lay ahead for the young father. It was unheard of for a man to raise three children on his own, especially a farmer who spent ten to twelve hours a day cultivating his fields. Yes, Caleb Wachsmann was going to have to find a woman, and he was going to have to do it soon.
– Excerpted from A Dream in the Wilderness by Jean Hackensmith, Jean Hackensmith, 2024. Reprinted with permission.
I have been writing since the age of twenty. (That’s 47 years and, yes, I’m disclosing my age.) I am the proud mother of three and grandmother to four wonderful grandchildren. After losing who I thought was the love of my life, my late husband Ron, in November of 2011, I met Rick. So, it is definitely possible to have more than one “love of your life.” Rick and I were married in July of 2018 and are still going strong today. He is my soulmate, my confidant, and my biggest fan. He has read every book I have ever written (even the romances!)
Next to writing, my second passion is live theater. I founded a local community theater group back in 1992 and directed upwards of 40 shows, including three that I authored. I also appeared on stage a few times, portraying Anna in The King and I and Miss Hannigan in Annie. I am sad to say that the theater group dropped its final curtain in 2008, but those 16 years will always hold some of my fondest memories.
I moved from Superior 15 years ago, seeking the serenity of country living. I also wanted to get away from the natural air conditioning provided by Lake Superior. We moved only 50 miles south, but the temperature can vary by 20-30 degrees. I guess I’m a country girl at heart. I simply love this area, and am lucky to, once again, have someone to share its beauty. I love the solitude, the picturesque beauty of the sun rising over the water, the strangely calming effect of watching a deer graze outside your kitchen window. Never again, will I live in the city. I am an author, after all, and what better place to be inspired than in God’s own backyard.
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