Novelist Cherie Dargan Celebrates the 4th Volume in her Grandmother’s Treasures Series of Dual Timeline Novels
WordCrafts Press and Amazon.com bestselling author Cherie Dargan are pleased to announce the release of The Recollection, the fourth volume in her Grandmother’s Treasures Series of dual timeline historical fiction novels. The Recollection, which released June 13, 2025, in hardback, trade paperback, and all major ebook formats immediately resonated with fans of the series, launching the new novel to the #50 position on Amazon.com’s Hot New Releases chart the US Historical Fiction category.
The Dust Bowl has devastated farms across the midwest. World war looms on the horizon. Banks are failing. The Great Depression has come to Jubilee Junction.
In the present day, Gracie and her team of history sleuths have a new quilt mystery to piece together, one that might just connect families from different regions.
And in the midst of it all, Christmas in Jubilee Junction is celebrated with new family, new babies, old traditions, and a fresh and unexpected opportunity to practice forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace on Earth.
From the Novel
Uncle Edward came home looking shaken. He sat down in the parlor and put his head in his hands. When I finally saw his face, I thought he was ill. The girls aren’t home from school yet, so he is early.
Edith and Aunt Mabel walk into the room. When Aunt Mabel sees him, she stops and says, “Oh, Edward? What happened?”
He struggled to get it out. “It’s Thomas Jenkins—the manager in our Prairie Falls bank—a farmer came into the bank today, and shot him on the spot without saying a word. The sheriff has the farmer in custody, poor wretch. We foreclosed on him last week, and he was in a blind rage. When they went to do the farm sale, he refused to let people go onto his land. He had a shotgun and a brother and uncle with shotguns. People have gone mad!”
He takes a big, shuddering sigh. “I drove up and took charge. There were all kinds of witnesses. I’ll spare you the details, but several clerks fainted. It was all very shocking and gory. I have seen nothing like that horrible scene since I was in France during the Great War. They’re coming into the building to clean tonight, and we’ll reopen the branch by the end of the week. But I must go visit his family this afternoon. Jenkins was a young man and had a young family, and a baby.”
“I wrote Book Four, The Recollection, to explore life in Iowa during the Great Depression” says author Cherie Dargan. “As with the first three novels in the Grandmother’s Treasures series, our family quilts, pictures, and stories inspired me. My grandparents held onto their farm but some of their neighbors’ were not so fortunate. One in ten farms changed hands in the Midwest during the Depression. Many families had to split up, moving in with relatives. Other simply packed up what they could and drove west seeking work.
“The government created agencies such as the CCC to help, but they only took young men, who sent home part of their wages to help their families. It was up to the women to feed their children and keep their homes together. They often relied on feed sacks and flour sacks for fabric from which they made everything from diapers to towels and clothing. And as they sewed, they saved the scraps, and some of those scraps might be used to make a crazy quilt.
“Since Book Three, The Promise, ended right before the holidays, I thought it would be fun to write a Christmas story about our present-day heroes, Gracie and David’s first Christmas as a married couple. They are now living out in the country in one of the family farmhouses. And just a mile away, Gracie’s brother Mark and his wife Kathy are settling into a routine with their twins while Kathy’s parents Ken and Katie have moved in to help with the babies. What if the two grandmothers become friends and discover an old photo of a crazy quilt that unlocks a story from the past?
“Re-imaging history through creating family stories is why I love writing historical fiction,” Cherie concludes. “I weave bits and pieces of my family’s stories in each book, focusing on the experiences and world events that shaped each generation. I’m a storyteller by nature. I’ve been scribbling stories since I learned to read and write. My mother and aunt’s real-life adventures during WWII inspired Book One. Thinking about what life was like for my mother’s family during the Great Depression inspired Book Four. I hope to entertain and inform my readers with each book and challenge them to discover their own family stories and history, with or without quilts.”
Also by Cherie Dargan
About the Author
After nearly 30 years in education and 20 years teaching writing, literature, and educational technology courses at Hawkeye Community College, Cherie Dargan took early retirement in 2016. She joined the Cedar Falls Authors Festival planning committee, celebrating the five best-selling writers with ties to Cedar Falls—Bess Streeter Aldrich, Ruth Suckow, James Hearst, Robert Waller, and Nancy Price.
Cherie contributed two chapters for collections of academic essays: one about Iowa writer Ruth Suckow and the other about the literary history of Cedar Falls, Iowa. She is the author of the Grandmother’s Treasures series, including Book 1 The Gift, Book 2 The Legacy, Book 3 The Promise, and Book 4 The Recollection with one more volume in the works.
She serves as the past president, historian, and program chair of the League of Women Voters of Black Hawk-Bremer Counties advocating for voting rights for all. She is Mom to four children and Grandma to three grandchildren. Cherie is married to retired librarian Mike Dargan, who serves as her tech support, fact checker, and head cheerleader.
For more information about Cherie Dargan visit:
www.cheriedargan.com
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