5 Star Review
Click HERE to Purchase Your Copy Today!
Editorial Book Review:
By Daniella Stewart
In Plowman: Harvest of Grain and Innocence, author Charles Bruckerhoff weaves together history, personal growth, and moral accountability to create a moving, multilayered story. Two girls, Stella Young and Hana Sanada, find the journals that their grandfathers wrote while fighting in World War II and Vietnam. Their quest to publish these journals is the emotional center of the book, taking readers on a deep dive into how war, community, and the search for truth affect people across generations.
Bruckerhoff paints a vivid picture of the girls' formative years at Stanton Academy, where character is shaped by hard work and lessons in morality. The academy, called "Sustainable Farming on Steroids" by its pupils, serves as an appropriate metaphor for the effort required to understand the responsibilities of history. The book moves its emphasis from childlike curiosity to a more sober study of wartime pain, national devotion, and the moral complexity of America's engagement in world conflicts as the girls grow into adulthood.
Stella's own narrative lends still another degree of emotional weight. Her father, an infantry captain, dies in Afghanistan, which fuels her curiosity about the "wrong wars" her grandfathers battled. Stella and Hana are propelled into a research-oriented effort to expose not only family history but also more general, concerning trends in American military policies by this loss. The novel handles these themes with sensitivity and care, giving voice to both the human cost of war and the resilience required to carry on.
Blending historical fiction with a deep journey of self-reflection, Plowman: Harvest of Grain and Innocence is an insightful, contemplative work. It serves two main goals: prompting readers to examine the lasting effects of war and highlighting the strength found in friendship and community. Through the themes of truth and the art of storytelling, Bruckerhoff demonstrates how these elements can offer healing, making his debut a powerful testament to their transformative power.
About the Author
Charles Bruckerhoff
Charles Bruckerhoff started life in Augusta, Missouri in 1947. Home was a small farm near The Big Muddy. He spent many days exploring the hills and valleys, fields and streams of the Ozark Mountain foothills. At 19 he joined the United States Army and served in Vietnam. Returning to the USA in 1969, he went to college, studying English, literature, philosophy and research methods. In 1995, he created a firm, Curriculum Research and Evaluation, Inc. (www.creus.com) focused on the social and cultural life of poor children. He believes the best way to gain personal knowledge, social life, moral behavior, spirituality and healing for children and adults is the real world out the back door with friends. Currently, he devotes time to shepherding the firm now run by his wife, Theresa, family life with a lovely wife, four sons and five grandchildren, friends and neighbors, community service, artisan bread baking, gourmet cooking, gardening, traditional quilting, studying American history, ancient civilizations of the world, the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. He places no limit on new adventures.
Comments