In Cheri Johnson’s “Annika Rose,” the titular character is just 17-years-old when the novel begins. Annika lives in a trailer with her father where they’ve lived since her mother died when she was young. Her father, Wes, once had plans to build a house for the family, but that never happened, and the two have lived an isolated existence since in Northern Minnesota. Annika is something of an outcast at school, and spends most of her days either helping her father on the farm, or else wandering in the woods.
As an author, Johnson generously lets the reader into Annika’s inner angst, suppressed grief, and a physical desire the young woman doesn’t quite know what to do with. Her world gets turned upside down when a young couple moves into the house on the neighboring property. Jesse, a composer and fiddler from the big city and his seemingly free, spirited young wife, Tina, awaken the main character to new possibilities for being in the world, but their entry into her life also opens her up to painful revelations.
Johnson takes her time painting the rather desolate place where these characters live. She details the natural surroundings amidst wild animals and human dangers, and uses precision in her descriptions of how social interactions can shift from one moment to the next. There’s a lot the author has to say in the story about power, survival, resilience, and the moments in life we can’t get back.
A launch for the book takes place Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at Eat My Words Bookstore in Minneapolis (free). More information here.
Sheila Regan
Sheila Regan is a Twin Cities-based arts journalist. She writes MinnPost’s twice-weekly Artscape column. She can be reached at sregan@minnpost.com.
