Stories from an Old Town: Grace, Grief, and Gossip in a Rural Minnesota Town : Outskirts Press : 9781432795320 : 1432795325 : 12 Nov 2012 : This sturdy 1930s town, surrounded by the cornfields of southern Minnesota, is home to German-speaking immigrants, hard-working farmers who make sure their town functions properly: it has a hospital, post office, schools, stores, churches, grain elevators. A town to be proud of. But during the course of small-town daily life, startling events take place. A young girl engaged to a missionary is tricked into a disastrous marriage with another man. The Jungas hardware store burns to the ground. Church burial is denied to a suicide. Then there is the struggle between the rigidly conservative and more liberal church groups, each sure of its ground and intolerant of the other. Caught in the middle are those struggling to understand. Tante Lieze, a central character, ponders God's perplexing intentions, beginning with her own troublesome situation. Her fa