Magel's Daughter
by Nancy Baker
North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc
Everyone in the Olina family, living and dead, knows that Magel keeps human body parts in her freezer.
From the beginning of the novel, the provocative nature of the text defies the Minnesota-nice stereotype, which is, at once, refreshing and original.
Magel's Daughter highlights the deadly manipulations and subterfuge of matriarchal power within a Norwegian family. It is a dark comedy with a touch of magical realism. On the surface it's a rapidly paced, episodic blitz through the last days of Karin Brix's sanity.
She's lost it by the end, and it's all her mother's fault. Magel is a classic femme fatale who grows old and spoils everyone's lives just like her mother and her mother before her. This is all set in Northern Minnesota, a chilly world of hallucination, incest, and severed heads.
Magel is the reigning matriarch of the family, and Karin is on her way to becoming just like her, struggling to regain herself as an artist after years of raising her two sons. Karin is assisted in her endeavors by the hallucinations of her grand and great-grandmothers. Karin's father's glass eye weaves through her imagination as the only sound counsel amid the chaos.
Watch for the Sequel: Magel's Ghost continues the story of Karin as she re-locates to Minneapolis, and follows the characters caught in Karin's web. Her quest for power in the art community, involves her with the grandfather, father, and son of a wealthy Minneapolis family. The ripple effect of her destructive psychosis is hilarious.
~I received a copy of this book from Bostick Communications and Nancy Baker. Watch for my review by early February.~
She has finished her third novel, Island Adrift, the first in The Mac Books series. The novel is also laced with magical realism while giving us a more serious base to the storyline. She is currently working on the next book in the series.
Her education has taken a varied and unusual route. She holds a BFA from the college of Art and Design in Minneapolis and worked in graphic design for ten years. At the same time she took night classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis,Minnesota, and has been writing ever since.
Early in her writing career, she tried her hand at children's stories and adult short stories. She is married and the mother of four children who supply her with endless material.
Magel's Daughter
Publisher/Publication Date: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc, Sept 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-87839-364-1
320 pages
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