35. South of Superior by Ellen Airgood

I had the hardest time finding an author with the same initials as myself... There were a select few and the books/poems/whatever the heck they wrote just did not sound interesting AT ALL!

I pleaded with my sisters to help me find an author with my initials so that I could fulfill that requirement for the reading challenge - they came through!

Introducing - Ellen Airgood.

Apparently she is also from my home state so that was a fun little side detail.

Here's the run down:


When Madeline Stone walks away from Chicago and moves five hundred miles north to the coast of Lake Superior, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, she isn't prepared for how much her life will change.

Charged with caring for an aging family friend, Madeline finds herself in the middle of beautiful nowhere with Gladys and Arbutus, two octogenarian sisters-one sharp and stubborn, the other sweeter than sunshine. As Madeline begins to experience the ways of the small, tight-knit town, she is drawn into the lives and dramas of its residents. It's a place where times are tough and debts run deep, but friendship, community, and compassion run deeper. As the story hurtles along-featuring a lost child, a dashed love, a car accident, a wedding, a fire, and a romantic reunion-Gladys, Arbutus, and the rest of the town teach Madeline more about life, love, and goodwill than she's learned in a lifetime.

A heartwarming novel, South of Superior explores the deep reward in caring for others, and shows how one who is poor in pocket can be rich in so many other ways, and how little it often takes to make someone happy.


The story takes place in a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I love small towns and was drawn into the quaint little town of McAllaster, which is situated on the shore of Lake Superior.

It did take me a while to really get into the book (I really had to power through Madeline's decision to move to McAllaster and her first few months in town), but once I got halfway through the story I had a hard time putting it down.  I loved most of the characters and I kind of wanted to be adopted by their town.

I was rooting for Madeline and all her fellow townfolk and was pleasantly pleased with how the story went.

Rating: 3/5

- a book written by an author with your same initials