A poignant coming-of-age story set in the early twentieth century, Heaven in a Wildflower explores the timeless question: Where is home?

Kristin Thorsen struggles to put down roots on the Kansas prairie after she is sent to live in a country parsonage with her father, a pious Lutheran pastor so consumed by religion that he barely notices his only child. To avoid thinking about her mother’s nearby grave, Kristin retreats into her imagination where she finds solace in books, Swedish folktales, and stories of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

Set against a backdrop of emerald winter wheat, Kristin’s story takes on Oz overtones as she is befriended by a neighbor widow and a local seed merchant on a journey to find her voice and trust her heart.

After her husband leaves for World War II, Kristin confronts her past on the prairie, writing down memories to pass on to her daughter. Her recollections of a world war, devastating droughts, a global epidemic, persecution of immigrants, gender inequality, and religious intolerance are issues that will resonate with readers more than a century later.