If you were going to write a novel based on stories of family history your parents told you, as Amanda Peters has here, where would it be set and what might it be about?
My novel would be set in Lake Stevens / Everett Washington. It would be about my maternal grandparents. They immigrated to America from Czechoslovakia. They ended up in Lake Stevens. They never spoke English. Grandma was proud to be from the old country. They had a farm. My uncle Adam who always lived with them raised dairy cows. My novel would be about the many wonderful holidays and the life that they lived.
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@Paula_Walters our stories would be very similar! All four of my grandparents came over from Hungary, where they were farmers. They ended up in Cleveland, though, working in the steel mills.
I’ve thought my grandfather’s story in particular would make a good novel, but I seem to lack the sustained attention it would take to actually write one.
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I know I will never write a novel or a memoir. I am keeping a journal of different memories from my childhood and maybe my granddaughter could someday organize all my thoughts!
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I have many stories my parent’s told me as a child. My understanding as a child may not be accurate, but may be entertaining or insightful. But I know my younger siblings and other relatives may not appreciate or understand those stories or have different views/beliefs. When my mother died, my younger brothers learned some information about their parents and grandparents, and it was not well received. They were surprised that I knew, and they didn’t. They were dismayed that our parents didn’t share the same information with them.
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@Paula_Walters, my grandmother did the same and it was absolutely invaluable when I was trying to piece together my family tree. She typed up her story & gave it to my mother (the oldest child) who gave it to me. I reproduced it for all my relatives, providing a lot of info they didn’t know. I’m not sure any of the younger generation is truly interested, but at least I feel I’ve done my part to pass along what I know.
But I’m so grateful to my grandmother for putting together what she did, and I encourage you to do the same. You might not know which of your kids/grandkids/greatgrandkids will continue your story, but I bet one of your descendents will!
My novel would begin in Boston, which was a point of entry for many Irish Americans, including my paternal grandmother. With Boston as the center of my novel, I would reach back to Ireland and investigate what drove my grandmother to America and then using a duel timeline move her life forward to work (she was employed as a maid), marriage and children. Of course I would tie in the rise of the Irish in Boston.
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Mine would be set in Spain during the Civil War and under Franco.
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My story will start in France, Normandie, where my maternal grand-father’s family came from. They were home builders. I will describe their life in the 1960s France, what made them move to Canada and establish their new life in Île d’Orléans. I know that they were given a piece of land to cultivate. I will do some research about the difficulties they encountered, how the Canadian government help them and how was life in a new territory. I know that the first family who moved to Québec, Canada, went back to France to recruit more family members.
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I would begin my story in Switzerland where my ancestors were Anabaptists. They were forced to leave Switzerland and sailed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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It would be set in a small town in Indiana, among Italian immigrants where the death of a young wife/mother results in her younger sister marrying the widower/husband and taking her sister’s place as wife/mother. I’m sure it has been written before, but it’s my family’s story.
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