If you enjoyed The Egg and I, you will enjoy this book. The author and her husband head into northern Minnesota to buy a summer cabin — and decide to chuck their city lives and live there. The locals place bets that they won't last through the winter. They almost didn't last through the first week. When her husband went to town for supplies, Helen had to face the wilderness alone. A huge storm ripped through, washing out the foundation and almost sending the cabin down the hill into the lake and toppling a tree onto the roof. While all that was happening, a bear was in the basement, trying to get through the trap door. Then their car was totalled and they ran out of money.
They spent their evenings reading Dickens by lamp light and adopted the philosphy of David Copperfield's Micawber — "Something will turn up." And somehow, something always did. They made it through the winter, made friends, and made a home for themselves. I'm not sure I could make it through February to May, but I envy them the rest of the experience. To add to the effect while reading, I put on a record (yes, I still have records and a turntable) that has on one side a storm on a forest lake and on the other, night in the Northwoods. My daughter and a friend came into the room and were chatting with me when the loons started wailing. They jumped. Beth correctly identified the sound and now her friend calls her Bird Girl.