A new historical novel set in a Swedish-settled community in central Kansas will debut during Lindsborg’s Midsummer’s Festival. Heaven in a Wildflower by Cynthia Mines is published by Meadowlark Press.

Kristin Thorsen lives with her father, a Swedish Lutheran pastor, in a prairie parsonage. To escape her lonely existence, she retreats into her imagination where she finds solace in stories of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and Swedish folktakes told by her Uncle Gustaf Olsson, who works at the Smoky Valley Mill.

“Readers will recognize the Swedish Pavilion and stories of tomtes as well as traditions such as Lucia and an annual Messiah performance,” Mines said. “The rough times experienced by immigrants is reinforced by a recurring motif of winter wheat surviving harsh winters.”

Mines is an award-winning writer whose articles have appeared in dozens of publications, including the Los Angeles Times. She was publisher/editor of Travel Kansas magazine for more than three decades, and her book, For the Sake of Art: The Story of a Kansas Renaissance, was named a Kansas Notable Book in 2016.

Mines will be signing books at Hemslöjd on June 20 from 10:00am-12:00pm and 1:00-3:00pm, located at 201 N. Main Street.