A re-posting of Seasonal Roads by Liz Lenzo!
L.E. Kimball’s SEASONAL ROADS takes readers into the hidden world of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Click here for Lisa Lenzo’s review!
The women of the northern wilderness are tough. L.E. Kimball writes about three of them, and she dips into her own experiences of living off-grid in Michigan’s U.P. She shares some of those experiences with Zinta Aistars on BETWEEN THE LINES. On-air at WMUK 102.1 FM, Tuesday, 7:50 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 4:20 p.m., or online anytime.
http://wmuk.org/post/between-lines-wilderness-women
Seasonal Roads made the summer reading list in Aaron Robertson’s blog on Detroit Metro Times. Check it out here!
Detroit Metro Times (Aaron Robertson)
L. E. Kimball recently stopped in to speak with Carey Carlson at WTCM!
Lisa Lenzo did a review of Seasonal Roads on Michigan Public Radio. You can listen to it here!
Stateside Review of Seasonal Roads
Review of Seasonal Roads by Books in Northport:
L. E. Kimball first came to my attention in 2010, when Switchgrass Books, an imprint of Northern Illinois University, published A Good High Place. Set east of Grand Traverse Bay, with a story stretching from 1910 to the 1960s, that novel traced a difficult path of friendship in very particular and specific Michigan terrain. One historical thread involved an old tourist steamer that once ran the inland waterway of lakes and rivers from Elk Rapids north to Eastport; another wound its way to the old Traverse City State Hospital, originally known as the Northern Michigan Asylum.
Kimball’s new book is billed as “stories” but could as easily be labeled a nonlinear novel. Thus readers who prefer long forms of fiction will appreciate the fact that three main characters appear and reappear consistently throughout the book, while those with a love for short forms will be more than satisfied by each story’s ability to stand on its own.
Review of Seasonal Roads:
“Seasonal Roads is a novel-in-stories that examines the lives of three women, representing three generations of a family that resides in Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Each chapter reads as though it is a short story that could stand on its own (several have already been published in literary magazines and quarterlies). Lynn Fay (L. E. Kimall) employs a nonlinear approach to each chapter, allowing the narratives to roam freely in time, thus granting the reader keen insights into the past, present, and future—and in some instances into a speculative mode in which we see what might have been or might yet come into being. The language throughout is hauntingly lyrical. Some of the best passages describe aspects of Michigan’s natural domain, and the lives of these three women—the hardships as well as the pleasures they experience—are intricately bound to the Upper Peninsula. Seasonal Roads is an abundant, subtle, and sensual depiction of life in the Upper Peninsula.”
– John Smolens
Review of A Good High Place:
Reviewed by the Grand Rapids Press! Check it out here.
“Incredibly timely, despite the fact that much of it was set almost a hundred years ago. Filled with complex characters living in a changing world. This is a book for people for whom the act of reading a novel is an all-encompassing pastime. What will charm the reader most about Kimball is the compassion she has for her characters’ weaknesses.”-Amy Sumerton, Program Director of 826michigan
“Ortega y Gassett says, ‘Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are.’ The place itself—northern Michigan—bursts alive in L.E. Kimball’s wonderful debut novel, as do these unforgettable characters who inhabit its spirit and magic and grace. And the story so beautifully told that I read it in a single sitting, and then began reading it again.”—Jack Driscoll, author of How Like an Angel
“With poetry and spirit Kimball’s words are like magic, moving fluently through time, multiple voices, and histories. Elk Rapids, Michigan is so intricately rendered it becomes another unforgettable character in this poignant tale about the wages of friendship, loss, and the heart in search of its rightful home. A thoroughly engaging novel and a luminous debut.”—Jaimee Wriston Colbert, author of Shark Girls
“If novels were bodies of water, A Good High Place would be a clear, rapid river running through the primeval forest of northern Michigan, revealing to its readers pools and eddies, places inhabited by love, loss, remembrance, and the ever elusive trout. L. E. Kimball’s story is written with grace and ease as it explores what was and, hopefully, what will always be true about our at once forbidding and generous American landscape.”—John Smolens, author of The Anarchist
Beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, a complex, fascinating story line as well as lovely descriptions of northern Michigan landscapes and histories bring this book to the top of my list. A Good High Place is the tender tale of the lives of two women, Native American Kachina and white Luella, who are drawn to each other yet conflicted by their cultures, an unspoken family connection and even love for the same man. Both women have their own deep spirituality to guide them as they grow into adulthood, see family members sent to the Traverse City Asylum, experience the coming end of the logging era, and watch the gradual decline of Luella’s father’s steamship business.
~ Jill Webb, Cottage Books
Northport Books Review: Click Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGxUtyx3NHs
L.E.K. 