MARQUETTE - Kitch-iti-kipi - the spring near Manistique named after an Indian Chief who drowned while proving his love to a woman - is in it. The Garden Peninsula and Big Bay de Noc are mentioned. Even Marquette plays a role in a new book entitled, "Men Among Sirens" by Jennifer Olmstead.
Labeling herself a "part-time Yooper," Olmstead, who lives in rural Virginia, used to visit her mother's family in the Upper Peninsula every summer.
"We became very familiar with the local community and history since we were babies," Olmstead said.
Last year, when Olmstead came up for a visit with her son, the former non-profit executive decided to write a book set in the U.P.
"I finally had the opportunity to take the time to write a book," she said. "There is such a mystique to me about Michigan."
Her 224-page novel is a love story, Olmstead said. "It's a story about real people."
The story begins with Ainsley Bohan returning to a small town near Manistique to spread her dead brother's ashes on Lake Michigan. A priest and an alcoholic husband are only two of the characters that Bohan deals with on what Olmstead calls the journey that we humans have to go through to learn and grow.
"'Men Among Sirens' is ultimately about a family, and real families face issues that cross the lines of social norms and acceptability," she said on her Web site. "None of us is immune to human desire, weakness, call it what you will."
While the characters in the book are fictional, some of them are loosely based on people Olmstead has met in real life. Her character Blaine MacGearailt is based on a real Navy fighter pilot from Houghton, while Ren Mercer is modeled after a close family friend of Olmstead's.
Self-published, the book can be purchased at Book World in Marquette, Escanaba and Houghton, as well as other stores in Manistique and St. Ignace. Amazon.com and other national bookstores also offer the book.
For more information contact Olmstead at contact@jenniferolmstead.net or check out her Web site at www.jenniferolmstead.net.