Hotel Fargoan: A Historical Love Story Told in Letters (a trilogy)

by Eileen Torgersen-Smith – A love story written as a series of letters written in 1940 and published as a trilogy. Despite the horrible backdrop of a looming World War Two, the wonderfully sweet romance between Art and Sally unfolds. Art is a traveling salesman in northeastern North Dakota. Sally is an elementary school teacher in Fargo, where she resides in an apartment at Hotel Fargoan.

The author writes: “It was a remarkable feeling that came over me as I read through all my parent’s letters, written when they were in their mid-twenties. As I read, I could hear their voices. I felt as though I were channeling them. They weren’t just talking to each other; the three of us were communicating. At times I wanted to offer them my insights and advice. After all, I’m now in my mid-seventies and know the lessons of that historical period. But I came to realize that it was they who were teaching me through their modeling of life values from a bygone era.”

“There has been a dreadful event unfolding here in Bismarck. It seems that about 150 boys, ages 10 to 15, have been playing war! Of course, they have no idea that war is not a glamorous activity, and they quite mistakenly are making it into a game. They’re naïve and misguided, for sure. About half the group is defending a hill in Sertoma Park and pretending to be the French Army, while the other half are Nazis trying to storm the French. If a German is tackled, then he goes to ‘prison.’ All the boys have guns of some sort, like water pistols or cap guns. They’re even wearing little painted ‘medals’ made from tin can lids. It’s expected that the game will carry over into tomorrow. I have half a mind to go over there and lecture them, yet half of me – at the same time – is secretly rooting for the French. I hear that games like this are popular across the country right now. How perfectly dreadful is the allure of war for the inexperienced. Is there anything like that going on in Fargo?” – from Book Two

Read an excerpt. (PDF format)
Read the reviews. 

Order the Hotel Fargoan trilogy from your favorite bookstore or Amazon.

Publication year: 2016
Trade paper
Hotel Fargoan Part One: A Romance Begins, 132 pages
$12.00 Amazon ISBN: 978-1537004976
Hotel Fargoan Part Two: Summer on the Farm, 334 pages
$14.00 Amazon ISBN: 978-1537005287
Hotel Fargoan Part Three: A Single White Orchid, 252 pages
$12.00 Amazon ISBN: 978-1537005409

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