BookEnds event with author Margaret Shaw Johnson

Early settlers of Winona, Minnesota faced extensive hardship and difficulty while pursuing a new life. They worked hard to achieve the American Dream but the obstacles they faced proved to be too much. They failed, dying poor and often alone, ending up buried in Potter’s Fields.

Author Margaret Shaw Johnson shares stories about these early settlers who had hopes and dreams to succeed, but faced impossible obstacles.

Margaret Shaw Johnson was a trial court judge in Minnesota’s Third Judicial District for twenty-one years. Her experience gives her a unique understanding of the hardships and struggles of ordinary people, and her heartfelt compassion–and realization that fate can undo any of us—shows in her storytelling.

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