Betty: A Memoir by Spencer, Iowa, author Mary McSwain Steele, is a daughter’s homage to a mother who raised three children in a backdrop of adversity and poverty.
Steele, former staff writer for the Spencer Daily Reporter, goes beyond personal memoir. With a novelist’s eye for detail, she evokes the sense of place of southwestern Wisconsin as few writers ever have, her description rivaling David Rhodes’ bestselling novel, Driftless.
See all of Michael Tideman's review of this book in the Dec. 31 Kossuth County Advance.