Girl from the north country

Austin residents will finally get their chance to meet “Vacationland” author Sarah Stonich on Monday.

The Austin Page Turners Committee chose Stonich’s “Vacationland” for the 14th annual citywide book read. Stonich will come to the Austin Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Monday for a quick reception and to speak with the public about her book. Stonich was excited to be invited to Austin.

“I was really thrilled,” Stonich told the Herald previously. “I’m more than happy to come and meet everyone. I like to get a sense of who is reading my books, and it’s a great opportunity to do that.”

“Vacationland” tells the stories of different people who travel to a resort up north for vacation. It follows Meg at the Naledi Lodge, who grew up under her grandfather’s care a lifetime ago. Now an artist, Meg paints images that are similar to the stories of the rest of the characters, including a man from nearby Hatchet Inlet who knew Meg years ago, a Sarajevo refugee sponsored by two parishes who can’t afford “their own refugee,” aged sisters traveling to fulfill a fateful pact once made at the resort, a philandering ad man, a lonely Ojibwa stonemason, and a haiku-spouting girl rescued from a bog.

Stonich was born in Duluth and lived in the Iron Range northwest of Duluth. She moved to the Twin Cities in 1986, where she worked as a columnist, editor and freelance writer. She was reading other books from small presses and was inspired to write her own.

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