| NORMAN
CARD writes a true story . . . 
charismatic Swedish sailor, funny but hard as nails, seeks his fortune
in China, Australia and America, and reinvents himself at the turn of the century, when
sail gives way to steam.
Carl Olofsson's approach to life is
to grab it by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. We can scarcely imagine a life so
free, yet so full of challenge.
His first ambition is to see the world, so at eighteen he finds a berth
on a squarerigged ship bound for China. Losing his virginity on Golden Moonbeam's sampan
is easy. Nearly dying from Chinese poison and missing his ride home is hard luck.
Back in Sweden, Carl is
drafted into the navy. With his experience, it should be easy. But one day, as Carl helms
a training ship, an officer kicks him and Carl beats him senseless. Six months into a two
year sentence Carl is rousted out of bed to fight a fire in the town. |
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After a burning wall falls on him,
Carl goes AWOL - to the Australian gold rush - where he walks 260 miles into the desert,
nearly dies, and Molly falls in love with him...
But the gold fields are dirt, death, and rumor. With a brush by the
Boer Wars, a drinking bout with his long-lost brother starts in London and ends in Sweden,
where he meets Tekla.
Carl and Tekla marry on Ellis Island and live in the ghettos of
Brooklyn, but when Tekla threatens to return to Sweden, Carl takes her to the copper mines
of Michigan. Working underground is hell for a man of the sea so they return to Sweden
after his brother Jacob, "The Man of Steel," is crushed by a hopper car. |
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| Emigrating a second time, Boston's North Shore and five tow-headed
kids become the gold he'd sought. In gratitude he builds a flagpole and raises the Stars
& Stripes over his property.
Carl's final chapter begins when he wakes up on the train, on his way
to get a keg of beer for a party to thank his would-be rescuers. Paddy agrees to give him
the keg, but warns Carl that it won't be allowed on the train.
Fifty years old, in his Sunday suit, he sweats the keg two miles - past
firemen and churchgoers, past the barking dog, under Old Glory and into the kitchen. Carl
has his party, his korobra.
Fearless, and stubborn, Carl teaches us through his adventures that
there is honor in the attempt and reward in the risk.
Anna Piazza
Dir. C&G Literary Agency
Email: agentAP@email.com
Fax: 775 206 1180
Tel: 225-338-9861
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