Tiny Altars - by Amy Hallberg (Paperback)

About the Book

Amy Hallberg walks away from her teaching career, intent on writing family stories of Minnesota Nice, that ambient culture she's been afraid to examine too closely. When real-world historic events draw her in, Amy's true education begins.

Book Synopsis

In childhood, Amy Hallberg receives a dollhouse that-while given with love-carries steep expectations. Forty years later, Amy walks away from her teaching career to forge a new life as a writer. The dollhouse reemerges as a mirror on Minnesota Nice, that familiar culture Amy's been afraid to examine too closely. She's equally terrified of repeating her ancestors' stories instead of writing her own. When real-world historic events draw her in, then Amy's true education begins. This leads her to question everything she thought she believed in, and to ultimately build new foundations.

The book ends where it begins, in Minneapolis and its Twin Cities suburbs, but with the dollhouse now gone and Minnesota Nice in the world's spotlight, along with the unresolved questions of legacy and inheritance. What do we keep, what do we let go of, and what do we choose to repurpose?

Review Quotes

"Amy Hallberg is masterful at blending life's simplicities with thought-provoking questions on race and individual truths. Tiny Altars: A Midlife Revival gives us permission to examine the origin of our stories, lean into discomfort, and use our voices, so we may create change within ourselves and our communities."

-Lisa Harris, author of Unveiled Beauty: Handwritten Stories from a Poetic Heart

"How do we grow up and into our own true selves, different from who our family and our society has told us we are supposed to be? With crisp, frank writing, Amy Hallberg shares her own journey of becoming-some moments a love letter to tender memories and lost relatives, other times defying and rebelling against them, but always with a steady reckoning for fuller context. Along the way, Hallberg finds herself witnessing a series of inflection points of the United States in real time, giving her a depth of perspective that allows her to see patterns and problems that most Americans miss, or choose to ignore. For Hallberg, the reckoning of her family stories parallels the selective history popularized in the United States-indeed, why are there never peasants or outlaws on our family trees, never slaves and immigrants, or authoritarians, centered in America's building of democracy?"

-Ray DePaola, master coach at Sunrise Journeys Life Coaching

"Amy Hallberg has clearly shown up. Her book hits on so many marks and yet still reads like butter. She unpacks Minnesota's particular brand of racial injustice, the comforts and confines of religion, what it is to be a woman in America today, and alternative paths to healing."

-Katherine Quie, PhD, LP, author of Raising Will: Surviving the Brilliance and Blues of ADHD

"It's no coincidence that Amy calls herself a Courageous Wordsmith, because courage is what rings through this story-to wade bravely into one's own past, peer into what is murky, and come out with something gold."

-Katherine North, author of Holy Heathen: A Spiritual Memoir

"A perfect companion to German Awakening. The author's struggle is palpable, from being molded into the good Lutheran woman to becoming the dangerous woman. This story will resonate with many. A bold and relevant write for these times."

-Bradley L. Bodeker, author of Bar Napkin Rants

"This book is a must read for anyone reflecting on how their past has shaped them as well as anyone inspired by creative expression as a means of resolving past traumas."

-Roseanne Cheng, author of Portable Magic: How to Write and Publish a Great Book

"Dazzled by Amy's vivid, heart-on-the-sleeve sharing while traversing midlife intersections of lineage, liberation, and leaving one's own legacy."

-Demetrius Bagley, award-winning movie producer of Vegucated

"This book asks us to consider the forces that shape us-and how we can shape ourselves."

-Emily P.G. Erickson, journalist and essayist

"Being surrounded by dangerous women all her life, Amy Hallberg sets out determined to not be one of them. At midlife, she leaves her traditional job to pursue writing and, inadvertently, steps onto the hero's journey to dismantle the societal conditioning inside herself. She begins to release all the stories that have held her back from being the beautiful hummingbird child that she is at heart."

-Sarah Bamford Seidelmann, author of How Good Are You Willing to Let It Get?

"Reading Tiny Altars feels like sitting around a campfire or kitchen table swapping stories with a dear friend."

-Michelle Wolff, M.Ed, author of Confetti: Unruly Bits of Poetry, Prose, and Essays