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Unsettled: A Novel Paperback – October 10, 2023

by Patricia Reis (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
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Family Secrets. A genealogical quest takes Van back 100 years to the Iowa prairie in search of an ancestor no one has claimed.

As Van Reinhardt clears out her father’s belongings, she comes across a request penned by her father prior to his death. Examining the family portrait of her German immigrant ancestors that he has left her, Van’s curiosity grows about one of the children portrayed there.

Meanwhile in the 1870s, Kate is a German immigrant newly arrived in America with only her brother as family. When she and her brother split, she eventually finds her way back to him, but with a secret.

Van revisits the town and the farm of her ancestors to discover calamitous events in probate records, farm auction lists, asylum records and lurid obituaries, hinting at a history far more complex and tumultuous than she had expected. But the mystery remains, until she changes upon a small book – sized for a pocket – that holds Tante Kate’s secret and provides the missing piece.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    363 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Sibylline Press
  4. Publication date
    October 10, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1736795481
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1736795484
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“One chapter to the next feels like walking, step by step, into a haunted house. A great read: Once you start, it’s hard to stop. Even when you meet a ghost.” —Michael Lesy, author of Wisconsin Death Trip

“Unsettled is an old-fashioned novel, filled with characters as familiar as family pictures, as touching and as terrifying. Reis writes with assurance about the kinds of secrets that destroyed families generations ago — and maybe still do.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of Deep End of the Ocean

“Unsettled is, in many respects, historical fiction at its most rich and most charming. The Reinhardts are gorgeously rendered, the prose intimate and nostalgic, their story prairie gothic at its finest. It paints a conflicted yet complete picture through interwoven points of view and Tante Kate’s journal entries, with best intentions twisted to devastating results and legacies of confusion.” —Stella K. Evans, Reviewer and Commentator

"If Unsettled is unsettling, it’s because it approaches a truth that less talented storytellers avoid: that the most honest storytelling relies on the shadows we fear.

A compelling work that explores the fragility of family history." — Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Author Patricia Reis is a Midwesterner at heart. In the mid-1800s, her German immigrant ancestors pioneered a farm in southwestern Iowa and their portrait gave her this story. She has lived on both coasts and currently resides in Portland, Maine where she is active in Maine Writers and Publishers. She spends six months of each year in Nova Scotia. Reis holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin, an MFA from UCLA and a degree in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. She also maintains a private practice of psychotherapy for women. Reis’s memoir, Motherlines: Love, Longing, and Liberation (SheWrites Press, October 2016) won a gold medal for memoir from Independent Press Publishers. Along with numerous essays and reviews, she has published several nonfiction books.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sibylline Press (October 10, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 363 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1736795481
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1736795484
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

About the author

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Patricia Reis

Patricia Reis

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Patricia Reis is passionately interested in how creativity, depth psychology, and the natural world inform a woman’s spiritual life. Her new gold medal winning memoir, Motherlines, weaves these threads on the warp of a midlife passage.

Reis has published five books and numerous essays. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin, an MFA in Art and Design from UCLA and a degree in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.

Raised in Madison, Wisconsin,Reis moved to California in 1968. In 1986, she moved to Maine where she lives with her partner, James Harrod and their cat. Reis currently divides her time between Portland, Maine and Nova Scotia. www.patriciareis.net

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anesa Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2023
Verified Purchase
Readers who prefer the pacing of a thriller should summon a little extra patience to allow this magnificent narrative to unfold as the author wisely sees fit. American literature has been waiting for these significant themes to be addressed in such meaningful fashion: the destructive elements of our ethos of progress and conformity, mixed-race families passing as European, the multi-generational consequences of denial. When I understood that this novel represents factual discoveries from the author's own heritage, I was even more impressed. UNSETTLED deserves its place alongside Great Plains epics by Marilynn Robinson, Jane Smiley and even Willa Cather. Do not miss this incredible work.
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Mary Fillmore
4.0 out of 5 stars A compelling picture of women's lives in Iowa in the 1870s and now
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2023
"Unsettled" gives us a clearly etched portrait of farm life in Iowa in the 1870s, full of careful details and a real sense of the land and its majesty. Replete with poetic images, it challenges any romanticized picture of that time and place -- especially for women. The author's handling of what happens to a woman who was considered mad is searing, and all too accurate from the historical documents. Juxtaposed agains that character is a modern woman with the classic dilemmas of love and place, investigating her family history and discovering that, as always, everything is much more complicated than it seems. A fine read that will repay close attention.
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Kathleen Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Unsettled!
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
Unsettled by Patricia Reis is the story of one woman curious to find out more about her ancestors. Told different point of view, one is Kate, known as Tante Kate in the 1870's. Kate is a German immigrant, having come to America with her brother. The second point of view is from Val Reinhardt, and depicts her search to learn more about her family and where she came from.

This genealogical research that Van is doing is the start of her going through her father's belongings, looking for anything that will help her in her search. Her father had requested that she look into her ancestry further, so all she has to work with is an old picture of the family.

This search takes her to libraries where she searches probate records, birth and death certificates, and any other documents that will help her piece together a story. The work is time-consuming but worth it in the long run.

I think that the author did a remarkable job with the past. It is a dual timeline, which I love to read, and very descriptive in the telling of a time long gone. The characters are brought to life with all of the flaws, difficulties, and love that a family has for each other even though life at times had to have been difficult.

Difficulties from drought and failure of the crops, the women having and losing children who died young. But from the story, I learned that even though there were tough times, it was also a happy time.

I give this book 5 stars! Well done!
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Rose City Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable debut historical fiction
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2023
Like other stories involving a modern and historic timeline, something has to trigger the modern-day protagonist in Unsettled to delve into the past. Here, Van Reinhardt is sent off on her historic quest when she finds message for her in her dead father’s desk. She sets out to fulfill her father's dying wish by tracking their ancestors' history. She searches through official records but only finds the key to her family’s secret when she discovers her Tante Kate’s diary.

While the framework may be familiar, Reis handles the story well. Unsettled is a well-executed and highly readable debut.
2 people found this helpful
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