Bestemor's Brown Bread
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When my grandmother arrived in America, on a hot summer day in 1903, it was on a ship that had set sail from her home in Norway. Grandma, her husband and two small children started out on the long journey across the Atlantic with plans to dock in Boston and board a train heading west. They planned to reach their final destination before the birth of their third child. Grandma would never forget the day she stood on the deck of a big gray steamship, crying. She watched as her family and friends pressed together on the dock, waving handkerchiefs and bidding farewell. Pernille Brekke would be the first of the Brekke family to step foot on American soil. “God reise! God tur!” they shouted. “Bon voyage!” "Will we ever see them again?” Grandma asked Grandpa with a sinking heart. Grandpa could do little more than shrug his shoulders with uncertainty. This was a question that would go unanswered for a very long time.
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About the Book
When my grandmother arrived in America, on a hot summer day in 1903, it was on a ship that had set sail from her home in Norway.
With these words, we embark on a journey with a shy young woman who risked everything to experience life in America. Pernille Brekke, the narrators Bestemor (Norwegian for grandmother), carried with her little more than the recipes and family traditions she loved most.
So what was it about Bestemor that inspired her granddaughter to tell the story of her journey, more than one hundred years later? Why did her brown bread leave such a lasting impression? And what can we learn about the importance of our own family heritage and traditions from the story of one woman's life?
About the Author
Dee Dee Cannon Cox lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband Roger. She began writing the story of her grandmother more than a decade ago. Dee Dee wanted to preserve the stories her grandmother had told her so that her children and grandchildren would be as proud of Bestemor as she has always been.
Chris Miller lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon. Together they have three children and two grandchildren. She was drawn to the story by Bestemor's ability to find purpose, not only in her role as a mother, but in doing what Mother Theresa called “Small works that are done with great love.”
Jackie Moon Brimhall, the mother of 7, lives with her husband Greg in West Jordan, Utah. She studied art at Brigham Young University, earning a Bachelor of Art degree. Jackie was excited about the project because of her own Norwegian grandmother.