{"product_id":"the-sauna-at-twelve-foot-collected-writings-9798989499120","title":"The Sauna at Twelve-Foot: Collected Writings","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Sauna at Twelve-Foot\u003c\/em\u003e, Marlene Mattila Stoehr's poetry and prose pieces capture Minnesota following the peak of Finnish immigration into the state, with evocative descriptions of the close-knit immigrant community of Sebeka, Minnesota. In a landscape of alfalfa fields, blueberry woods, and corn stubble, a parade of neighbors assembles each Saturday evening to \"take sauna.\" They gather on the banks of the Red Eye River, at the deep spot known simply as Twelve-Foot. In wintertime, children race down frozen cow-manure piles on hand-carved wooden skis. A party-line telephone rings to deliver news of a hard loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe collection includes the author's Finnish ancestral emigration stories and is an important contribution to Minnesota's women's and immigrant history. In a desperate search for food during devastating famine, a family skied 400 miles along frozen rivers to reach the Arctic Ocean. Other stories tell of emigration from Finnish-speaking communities in Norway to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and attempts to unravel mystery surrounding the death of a great-grandparent in Michigan's 1895 Osceola mine fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"River Box Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50646509748498,"sku":"9798989499120","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a3556c00-d771-453a-bb5a-9826056fffb8.jpg?v=1733178898","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-sauna-at-twelve-foot-collected-writings-9798989499120","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}