Sailors, lumberjacks, love and murder on the Great Lakes“It was the end of dread, at least in its first and most paralyzing form. Each brother knew that the gnawing worry that had laid siege to the backs of their minds for the past six months had finally broken through the walls, emerging in their midst.” Set in 1890’s Michigan, A Dream of Steam is an historical fiction revolving around Thomas and William McGrath, two brothers who struggle to save their family sawmill from John Fitzpatrick, a corrupt banker. As Fitzpatrick’s crimes push the McGrath Brothers Lumber Company toward ruin, Thomas and William are forced to consider a young woman’s high risk proposal to save their mill. It is a tale of sailing ships and lumberjacks, hope and disappointment, love and heartbreak, peopled by men and women who take control of their destinies in an era of rapid change. Mari Carlson wrote in Mid West Book Review: “With lyrical phrasing, fitting of the time period, plus mechanical details and lots of physical exertion, the pacing balances description and action. A helpful glossary of logging and nautical terms supplements the text. History comes alive in the hands of this debut author, a sailor who restores ships for use in movies and museums.” Anyone who has ever been unfairly backed into a corner will enjoy this book; it also provides a glimpse of “Old Detroit”, as an emerging industrial powerhouse, before the automobile.