ACCIDENTAL SHEPHERD event at The Avid Reader with Liese Greensfelder
February 6 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm PST
Liese Greensfelder will join The Avid Reader on Thursday, February 6, for a reading and discussion of her new book Accidental Shepherd: How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway, at 6:00 p.m. PST.
This event is free and open to the public.
In May 1972, twenty-year-old Liese Greensfelder arrived in a small Norwegian town prepared for her first summer farmhand job, only to learn the startling news that she’d need to singlehandedly watch over the centuries-old farm while its owner recovered from a stroke. Confronted with dangers and obstacles for which she was utterly unprepared, she tells a story of remarkable resilience and records the fascinating but rapidly vanishing traditions of the community that took her in.
“Liese Greensfelder’s exciting and unexpected adventure in Norway moved a whole nation when she first shared her story in 1975. Now a new generation will be inspired to take a journey that might change their lives forever. I loved Accidental Shepherd—I laughed, I cried, and I will carry this young woman’s heroic tale with me always.”—Camilla Flaatten, travel journalist, Aftenposten, Oslo
“Accidental Shepherd keeps an open, smart, frank tone, and Liese Greensfelder’s good humor shines as she works through problems. The farm animals are wonderfully depicted—especially the sheep and difficult lamb birth. She offers a good balance of light and dark with lots of enlightening detail.”—Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, author, and essayist
“Finally, the real, rural Norway, with language lessons to boot. Liese Greensfelder creates a cast of characters—and animals—that show how Nordic life has persevered over the centuries. My wife wanted to give up everything to lead a bucolic life as sheepherders in Norway for three months. Now we can just read this charming book instead—thank you Liese! Her stories of farm life along the fjord make her a Norwegian James Herriot.”—Eric Dregni, author of For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son’s Search for Norwegian Happiness
“Liese Greensfelder’s vivid writing transported me into the heart of a community still relying on sustainable, grass-based farming practices handed down through generations. Her story of the triumphs, catastrophes, elation, and heartbreak she experienced there will keep you reading to the end.”—Craig McNamara, farmer and author of Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today
