“The writing quality is superb, the historical and geographic detail utterly convincing, the characters well-drawn, and the dialogue persuasive … Claire Gebben has extraordinary promise. Her prose is quite brilliant; I fully lived within her world.”
—William Dietrich, Pulitzer-Prize winning author
“The Last of the Blacksmiths is music and history and motion, love and heartbreak and honest hard work. As Michael Harm—the boy called a “wanderer” at age seven—journeys from Germany to New York City to Cleveland with the dream of becoming a blacksmith, readers travel alongside him cheering in triumph, groaning in despair, nodding in sympathy. Claire Gebben delivers an unforgettable narrator, an intimate glimpse of the immigrant experience, and an ultimately uplifting story.”
—Ana Maria Spagna, author of
Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus,winner of the
2009 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
and finalist for the 2011 Washington State Book Award.
“Meticulously researched and lovingly written. Claire Gebben’s new novel is both intimate and epic, following one immigrant’s journey to America but representative of the journeys of millions. In The Last of the Blacksmiths, Claire Gebben has taken letters and family lore and crafted a compelling story of a nineteenth century immigrant from the political strife of Bavaria to the ethnic communities of Ohio. As a writer who has also researched lost worlds of the past, I was particularly taken with the re-creation of the arts of the blacksmith, and the industrial rivalries in Cleveland when it was a raw and growing city.”
—Lawrence Coates, author of The Garden of the World
“An ideal example of living history! Claire Gebben’s admirable empathy and imagination turn nineteenth century immigrant letters into a lively and exciting story narrated by the protagonist himself. The precisely researched historical background is embedded in a way that only adds charm. The author makes you believe: it’s not fiction, this is the story like it really happened.”
—Dr. Hans-Helmut Görtz, author and historian,
Freinsheim, Germany
“Rich, intelligent, charming, delightfully earthy, and often touching. I became thoroughly engaged.”
—Rev. David B. Williams, author of Ulu: Bread of Life
“Claire Gebben writes with clear, concise prose. The historical material enhances her story…. Her characters are well-developed with both virtues and foibles. This is a more or less true story that has been pieced together from a transatlantic correspondence over the generations.”
—Historical Novel Society
“Readers will enjoy this story of one man’s immigration to America and how he adjusted to life in the new land.”
—Clara Harsh, The Palatine Immigrant magazine
“A thoughtful and often poignant look at the struggles of immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century, and which are very likely familiar to immigrants today. Kudos to Ms. Gebben for allowing her imagination to take flight and delivering a heartfelt story that is both enlightening and entertaining.”