The Year We Were Famous
The Year We Were Famous is based on the true story of the author’s great-aunt and great-grandmother. With their family home facing foreclosure, seventeen-year-old Clara Estby and her mother, Helga, need to raise money fast — no easy feat for two women in 1896. Helga wants to tackle the problem with her usual loud and flashy style, while Clara favors a less showy approach.
Together they come up with a plan to walk the 4,600 miles from Mica Creek, Washington, to New York City. If they can do it in only seven months, a publisher has agreed to give them $10,000. A fantastic payday, to be sure! However, it is far easier said than done. Will Clara and Helga complete their trek in time? Or will they lose their home to foreclosure?
This fast-paced historical adventure sets the drama of Around the World in Eighty Days against an American backdrop during the time of the suffragist movement, the 1896 presidential campaign, and the changing perception of “a woman’s place” in society.
