The Crystal Falls Community District Library, in partnership with the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association, has scheduled author events with winners of the U.P. Notable Book List.

The 18th event is with Ellen Airgood, whose novel is what the UPPAA called “an endearing novel of an everyday single mom and her child struggling to find happiness and make ends meet in a small town on Lake Superior.”

The events are open to all U.P. residents free of charge.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. June 9 on the Zoom platform. Participants are asked to contact Evelyn Gathu in advance at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org or 906-875-3344. UPPAA recommends individuals borrow a copy of the book from a local library or purchase it from a local bookseller in advance to get the most out of the events.

“Tin Camp Road” is the subject of the June 9 U.P. Notable Book Series. The event will be held via Zoom. (Photo courtesy of the Upper Peninsula Publishers ad Authors Association)

According to her biography at ellenairgood.com, Airgood grew up on a farm in Michigan’s Thumb where her favorite things to do were tio read books, ride horses, swing in her tire swing and write stories. She almost left the University of Michigan after her first year to go back home and farm, but returned to school after her parents offered to cosign the loan for the new fencing she’d need to raise beef cattle on their 80 acres, the only crop they considered feasible — even though she was a vegetarian at the time.

Airgood graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and now lives on the shore of Lake Superior in the U.P. where she writes and owns a diner along with her husband. She is the author of novels published by Penguin Books, including Michigan Notable Book and Midwest bestseller, “South of Superior,” and the award-winning “Prairie Evers,” a Bank Street Best Book for middle-grade readers.

Airgood’s work also appears in “The Way North: New Upper Peninsula Writings,” “Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula” and the upcoming “Bob Seger’s House.”

Her website explains more about “Tin Camp Road.”

The main character, Laurel Hill, and her daughter Skye live on the Lake Superior shore in a place where the local school has classes of just four children, and the nearest hospital is a “helicopter ride away.”

“Though they live frugally, eking out a living with Laurel’s patchwork of jobs, their deep love for each other feels like it can warm them even on the coldest of nights,” the novel’s description reads. “What more do they need?”

Trouble ensues when their landlord decides to evict them in favor of a more profitable summer rental, and the mother and daughter’s independence is put to the test.

The book, though, is more than about conflict.

“Nor is Tin Camp Road a story all about sadness and difficulties,” local author Tyler Tichelaar wrote in the U.P. Book Review. “Skye and Laurel have a special relationship that is really filled with some wonderful moments of love, trust, and just having fun. While other adults don’t always understand their situation, mother and daughter know they belong together and their bond of love is unbreakable.

“The Upper Peninsula is depicted accurately in the novel. Airgood obviously knows and loves the area, not painting it at all as idyllic, yet reflecting its beauty, its power, its economic struggles, and the dangers that can exist from living along Lake Superior.”

More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, U.P. Book Review and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com

Established in 1998 to support authors and publishers who live in or write about the U.P., UPPAA is a Michigan nonprofit association with more than 100 members, many of whose books are featured at www.uppaa.org. UPPAA welcomes membership and participation from anyone with a U.P. connection who is interested in writing.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.