Virtual Book Tour: Montana Matrimonial News by Candace Simar #bookreview #historical #fiction #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

 

Historical Fiction

Date Published: 10-07-2025

Publisher: NorthStar Press

Loneliness gnaws and chews like the relentless prairie wind. Dakota homesteader, Digger Dancy, props his feet in the oven and waits for the storm to end. His brother, George, barges into the soddy in a swirl of blowing snow. George announces he will abandon his claim to seek a wife. He can’ t stand the loneliness. Digger slaps a stack of old newspapers on the table and convinces him to place an ad for a correspondence bride in the Montana Matrimonial News. Doctor Gamla, the almost-doctor and midwife, treats George’ s frostbite, and offers a cure for his melancholia. She tells of two sisters living in tar-paper shacks along the Mad Dog River. The brothers cannot imagine how Doctor Gamla’ s cure will change their lives. Nickelbo’ s whole world is wheat. The homesteaders talk about crops, worry about the weather, complain about prices, and dream what they’ ll buy after the harvest. Asa Wainwright busts sod with a grasshopper plow. Ingrid Larson dallies over planting to avoid her sister’ s wedding. Drunken Oscar Borgom gets lost in a storm on the way to the outhouse. Through it all, Doctor Gamla delivers babies, treats ailments, and offers advice. “My cures work if you can stand them."

 

Interview

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

For me, the hardest part is keeping consistent with the daily effort of sitting in the chair in front of my computer screen. I do better at sometimes rather than others. Once I am writing, the time flies by. I’m happier when I write. There’s something wonderful about the endorphins created by creative work.

 

What are your most played songs?

I get caught up and distracted by the words of songs. I usually write in silence, but if I do play music, it is always without words or at least in a language I can’t understand.

 

 

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

I met two writers at the Taos Master Class in Fiction in 2010. Since then, we often read each other’s work when nearing publication. The foundation of the same class teaching gives credibility to their critique and I greatly appreciate sharing my work with them online. I also have a sister who teaches writing. She is of great help to me—and is not hesitant to share her honest opinion!

 

 

What book are you reading now?

For me, I am always reading more than one book at a time. I just finished THEO OF GOLDEN and loved it. My next is a Jessie Stone book by Robert Parker. I also keep a non-fiction book or two going. At present it is a biography of Winston Churchill. I have a daily reading regimen of spiritual books as well. At present I am reading a biography of Saint Catherine of Siena. “Be who you were meant to be and you will set the world on fire,” is one of her famous quotes. Another book that is most encouraging is the DAILY ARTIST WAY by Julie Cameron. I don’t have enough time to consume all the books I want.

 

 

How did you start your writing career?

 I started getting the writing bug in my mid-40s. A local poetry group welcomed me into their midst and taught me about lyrical language and using sensorial details. This was a great foundation for all other writing. Because I love history and cherish my Scandinavian heritage, I combine the two in writing frontier fiction set in my home state of Minnesota. MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS is set across the border into North Dakota where my great uncles homesteaded.

 

 

Tell us about your next release.

I loved my characters of MONTANA MATRIMONIAL NEWS so much that I hated to let them go after the book release of November 2025. I am now working on another book set in Nickelbo, ND, in 1890. Characters from MONTANA MATRIONIAL NEWS show up as secondary characters. The working title is PRAIRIE WIND, CARRY ME HOME. 

About the Author

 

 Candace Simar likes to imagine how things might have been. She combines her love of history with her Scandinavian heritage in historical novels that examine the early days of Minnesota and North Dakota. “I write historical novels to share painless history lessons about the fascinating and unique history of our region.”

Her historical novels include: Sister Lumberjack, book five in the Abercrombie Trail Series (North Star Press, March 2024) Follow Whiskey Creek (Sweet Honey Press 2023) Escape to Fort Abercrombie (Five Star Cengage 2018) Shelterbelts (North Star Press 2015), Blooming Prairie (North Star Press 2012) Birdie (North Star Press2011) Pomme de Terre (North Star Press 2010), and Abercrombie Trail (North Star Press 2009). Her short story collections: Dear Homefolks (River Place Press 2017) and The Glory of Ordinary Time (Wolfpack Press 2018). Farm Girls (River Place Press 2013) is a book of poetry co-written with her sister, Angela Foster. Candace’s short stories have been published in the anthologies: Spoilt Quilt (Five Star Cengage 2020), Librarians of the West (Five Star Cengage 2021); and Why Cows Need Cowboys (Two Dot Press 2021).

Simar is a Spur Award winner and Spur finalist from the Western Writers of America for her Abercrombie Trail series. Shelterbelts was a finalist in both the Willa Literary Awards in Historical Fiction and the Midwest Book Awards. Escape to Fort Abercrombie holds a Will Rogers Gold Medallion and a Peacemaker Award from Western Fictioneers.

Her short stories and poetry have received awards from the Bob Dylan Creative Writing Contest, Lake Region Review, League of Minnesota Poets, National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Dust and Fire, and the Laura Awards for Short Fiction.

Candace enjoys sharing her research and writing with groups and book clubs across the nation.

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