Baker, Ellen 1975–

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Baker, Ellen 1975–

PERSONAL:

Born 1975, in Grand Rapids, MN; married; husband's name Jay. Education: Lawrence University, B.A.; University of Minnesota, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Northern WI. Agent—Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 524, Bronxville, NY 10708.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked variously as a living history interpreter in costume and a World War II museum curator; bookseller and event coordinator, WI, 2003-07.

WRITINGS:

Keeping the House: A Novel, Random House (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Midwestern writer Ellen Baker was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and was raised in Wisconsin, Illinois, and South Dakota. Baker graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she earned her undergraduate degree in psychology, then went on to earn a master's degree in American studies at the University of Minnesota. She has worked at a number of jobs over the course of her career, including as a museum curator, interpreting living history scenes in costume, and both selling books and planning events at a local independent bookstore in Wisconsin. Baker combines her interest in history with her knowledge of Wisconsin in her first book, Keeping the House: A Novel. Set in a Wisconsin mansion from the end of the nineteenth century up through World War II, the novel traces the experiences of one family and the ways in which their house brings them together. The book begins with the arrival of a new bride to the family home, Wilma Mickelson, who has just married John, leaving behind her schooling and love of music to be with him. Wilma passes a less than happy existence in the house, but she is just the first of many family members that Baker describes as dwelling in the home, and each has their own unique experience and reactions. Ultimately, Dolly Magnuson, who falls in love with the house in the aftermath of the war, learns of the history of the house and the people who lived there, even as she works on her own new marriage to a war vet and struggles with her untraditional aspiration to fly a plane. Dolly is told the house itself is cursed, a belief that stems from the sad history of the family that had lived there, and so the two narratives become intertwined. Susan Balée, in a review for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote: ‘Baker has done a fine job of setting up the two narratives that first develop separately, like pieces of a quilt, and then are sewn together, part of the same fabric in the end. Her knowledge of American cultural history serves her extremely well.’ Carol Haggas, writing for Booklist, agreed, commenting that ‘Baker's accomplished, ambitious debut novel is a majestic, vibrant multigenerational saga in the finest tradition of the genre.’ A reviewer for Publishers Weekly considered the book less consistently written, but overall found it to be ‘stuffed to bursting with stories of love, loss, revenge, obsession, emotional and physical violence, and general familial mayhem."

Ellen Baker told CA: ‘I'm fascinated by history and by the challenge of creating characters who truly inhabit the time period in which they live. I try to imagine them living just down the street, so to speak, and to imagine them experiencing life at all of the conscious and unconscious levels that real people do. So, in that way, my characters become as real to me, and as important, as a neighbor or a friend. The challenge then becomes to find the right words to fully express the ways in which the characters experience their complex lives."