LIGONIER VALLEY
WRITERS
About Marge Burke
Marge Burke has written two historical fact-based novels. She works part-time for a local auto dealership, spends hours weekly in her flower gardens, and delights in her two grown children and five grandchildren. She also volunteers at Hanna’s Town and posts daily on the Word Garden at www.margeburke.com.
Letters to Mary is set during the Civil War and is based on letters sent from Daniel Crouch to his wife, Mary. Those who went to battle were not the only casualties of the war; families were torn apart and left to struggle on their own at home, raising family and taking care of their homes. As Daniel tries to come to terms with the uncertainties of war and missing his wife and young children, Mary struggles with raising the children alone and trying to keep their farm afloat. The letters within the text of the book are actual letters from Daniel to Mary, who lived in Erie County, northwestern Pennsylvania, in the late 1800s.
FIELDS OF BLUE
Fields of Blue is a story for middle graders depicting life in the late 1700s in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. The Blackburn family knows the importance of their flax crop. It provides all the material they will need for clothing, blankets, and rugs for the coming year. A ruined crop means disaster. Young Sarah and Ben take on the responsibility of tending to the crop in the absence of their father, who has not yet returned from war.
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When fire threatens a neighbor’s crop, it all hits home. And what happens when Sarah’s older sister falls for the neighbor’s son? How could anything possibly turn out all right?
Available from the author. Email her at www.margeburke.com