In the pre-dawn hours of February 18, 1942, three American warships zigzagged in convoy along the south coast of Newfoundland. Caught in a raging blizzard, the three ships ran aground on one of the most inhospitable stretches of coastline in the world—less than three miles apart, within eight minutes of each other. The Wilkes freed herself. The Truxton and Pollux could not. Fighting frigid temperatures, wild surf, and a heavy oil slick, a few sailors, through ingenuity and sheer grit, managed to gain shore—only to be stranded under cliffs some 200 feet high. From there, local miners mounted an arduous rescue mission. In Hard Aground, based on eyewitness accounts of survivors and rescuers, and corroborated by archival and historical research, Bett Fitzpatrick tells the story of the men who saved themselves, the miners who carried survivors up the cliffs on their backs, and to the people of St. Lawrence who opened their homes and their hearts to the victims. Among them are seaman Edward Bergeron, who scaled the cliff and brought help, Lanier Phillips, the only black man to survive, Ena, who collected food and blankets and snapped the only pictures of that horrific day, and Clara, who took the last survivor home and nursed him through the night. Bett (Dorion) Fitzpatrick, grew up in Newfoundland when there wasn’t a child who didn’t know the story and the people who carried up the cliffs the 186 U.S. service men who survived the shipwrecks of the USS Truxton and USS Pollux. Award-winning author of Melanie Bluelake’s Dream (1995), Bay Girl (1998), and Whose Side Are You…

The Soul’s Twins: Emancipate Your Feminine and Masculine Archetypes by Jean Benedict Raffa releases today, November 17, from Schiffer Books. A former television producer and college professor, Dr. Jean Raffa changed directions in midlife to discover and write about her passions. Informed by over 30 years of psychological and spiritual study, her books and teachings guide others to growth and self-empowerment. Humanity today is plagued by a loss of meaning and alienation from self and others. The result is unprecedented levels of divorce, depression, anxiety, addictions, suicide, and crime. Because societal institutions have failed to resolve these and other everyday problems, it is now the task of each individual to heal and unite their divided self: body and spirit, conscious and unconscious, feminine and masculine. Drawing on Jungian psychology and wisdom traditions from world religions, Dr. Raffa offers a self-guided journey to heightened self-awareness and compassion for oneself and others. A self-assessment tool called the Partnership Profile gives readers a personalized status report on their inner forces, including the maturity of four feminine archetypes, four masculine archetypes, and a newly emerging archetype of egalitarian partnership. This awareness, combined with suggested practices, empowers readers to address their imbalances and create the lives for which they yearn. This guide for all who desire greater self-fulfillment and freedom to be themselves describes four masculine and four feminine archetypes in everyone. Watch the book trailer here. Reviewer Linsey Stevens, editor of Iphelia: Awakening the Gift of Feeling, writes, “The Soul’s Twins is incredibly well…

Duluth-based journalist and creative writer Naomi Yaeger is counting down the weeks to the launch of Blooming Hollyhocks: Tales of Joy During Hard Times. This work of creative nonfiction is the author’s story of her mother, Janette Minehart, who grew up with four siblings in a small Minnesota prairie town during the Depression and came of age during WWII. Not yet available for pre-ordering, Blooming Hollyhocks will be published in October by Beaver Pond Press, an indie publisher in St. Paul, Minnesota. Naomi Yaeger will read an excerpt from her new book on Saturday, October 18, at 12:30 pm at the Nokomis Library at 5100 34th Avenue South in Minneapolis. On October 28 at 6:30 pm in Duluth, Naomi will take the stage at Wussow’s Concert Café with Minnesota author Linda LeGarde Grover to talk about storytelling, resilience, and the ties that bind communities together. They will be accompanied by Terry Larson, Naomi’s husband, who plays folk songs on banjo. Co-hosted by Zenith Bookstore and Wussow’s Concert Café, the event is open to the public. Food and refreshments may be purchased at the café. “Blooming Hollyhocks is a sweet, memory-bending reminiscence of one family’s journey from ‘the old days’ to World War II and the cusp of modernity. Set in The Dakotas and Minnesota, the author charts her family story with clear, uncluttered writing full of historical detail and useful geography besides. But her true goal is the inner workings of the family itself, and how, even in the hardest of times, joy is still possible.” – Will Weaver, author of Power & Light, and Sweetland: Collected Short…