carol_with_flowers

Carol

Bodensteiner

author

Welcome! Whether you're a first-time visitor or long-time friend, I'm glad you found your way here. I'm a writer who's inspired by the people, places, culture, and history of the Midwest.

My Books

One of the best things about writing is the opportunity to share experiences with readers. The stories in my memoir and my historical novel encourage readers to recall their own growing up years and the lives of their ancestors, whether they 'grew up country' or not. Because of the stories readers share with me, I've developed a deep appreciation for the value of preserving everyday stories - the fabric of our lives and culture.

Stitched Through Time: The Story of Libbie Jensen’s Quilts

Stitched Through Time shares the journey of the author's family’s heirloom quilts through five generations, a journey that spans hopes and dreams lost, reconciliation and redemption.

Simple Truth

Angela Darrah gets the job of her dreams only to find her client may be exploiting immigrant employees. With each new revelation, she finds herself questioning not only the client but also herself. Ultimately, she must answer: What is she willing to risk to help someone else?

Go Away Home

Set in World War One-era Iowa, GO AWAY HOME is a captivating coming-of-age novel that explores the enduring themes of family, friendship, and love, as well as death and grief.

Growing Up Country

Growing Up Country, Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl

GROWING UP COUNTRY delivers a treat as delicious as oatmeal cookies hot out of the oven—a memoir of a happy childhood growing up on a family farm in the middle of the country in the middle of the 20th Century.

On the Blog

Poems are a declaration of hope

By Carol / 31 May 2024 /

  “Poems are a declaration of hope in language” – Maya Chung   voices echo, beckon, come; even tree frogs sing, cicadae’s fiddle, coyotes howl. If we but sit quietly, listen attentively, though we believe it’s just noise, that it’s nothing that we can’t resist, knowing the mind-numbing, soul crushing pull of insidious arguments, slip…

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Those Boys on the Hill book cover

How do we care for our kids?

By Carol / 13 February 2024 /

People talk often about how children are our future, and I expect we all like to think we do well by our children. But recent events make me believe we as a country must do better in caring for our kids. There are issues at the federal and state levels, and a new memoir shines…

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