Jerome Norlander

Evelyn Jerome Norlander

Mary Norlander, the author, was a Swedish immigrant who came to America in the 1880s, as a twelve-year-old girl. After refusing to attend the first grade with six year olds, in St. Paul, Minn, she learns English in a class for adults, and eventually becomes a serious writer. She wrote the novel Evelyn in the 1920s, based largely on her own experiences in Sweden and in the New World. Evelyn is a compassionate and serious young woman, but she knows how to have fun. She is a committed Christian, but she questions the fundamentalism of her time and church leaders who seem to only have rules to offer, rather than a concern for others. As a young woman, she looks for love and equal companionship, rejecting young men who assume she will be subservient and obedient. The manuscript was handed down through three generations, but never published. It is now available, at a time when we are facing the same issues she cared deeply about.