A young Leif leaves his home country of Denmark in 1875 and takes to the seas, working aboard whalers for ten years. While visiting a small Danish village, he meets and falls in love with Maren, the blue-eyed daughter of a theologian that Leif has admired for a long time. When his sailing takes him to a lush island in Puget Sound, USA, he decides to settle down and sends for Maren. They marry and raise a family of four: Lars, Ben, Hannah, and baby Christian. A tragic accident takes the life of the baby Christian and scars Maren's body. The entire family is devastated by the accident and react in their own ways. Maren, badly burned, must deal with changes in both her body and her mind. Daughter Hannah 6, assumes blame for the accident and takes her time returning to her effervescent young self. Her two older brothers, Lars 12, and Ben 8, both feel guilty for not protecting their mother; the serious Lars buries himself in following in his father's footsteps; Ben, an imaginative boy, attempts to make everything better for everyone. Maren comes to realize that the lives of her family, much like the lives of the fir trees that populate their island, are resilient. She finds her own peace. Horror and pain have come to her family, much like the fir trees that undergo assaults of lightning, fire, windstorms, mudslides, and tree-cutting machines - Still The Tall Fir Grows.
About the Author: B. Sperry Anderson worked on this novel for more than ten years, diligently researching details of the history and geography of the story, polishing the language, and tying up loose ends. She died shortly after completing Still the Tall Fir Grows, a story that is a composite of the lives of real island families in Northwest United States, folks with roots in Denmark. Ms. Anderson was a thorough writer and trained in the arts. An artist all her life, she painted in oils and watercolor, created lovely quilts, and wove from a magnificent loom. Her home on Anderson Island is filled with the beauty she created. Her family came from Greece; her husband's family came from Denmark, providing the impetus to write this story. Ms. Anderson married a naval officer in the 1950s and lived around the US, mostly in the areas of Washington DC and California while raising a family of three daughters. She set up an artist's studio in California, where she worked and taught other artists. When the Andersons retired to their island in Puget Sound, they opened a bed and breakfast. Mr. Anderson raised beef cattle and Ms. Anderson provided gourmet meals for guests who kept returning to the peaceful surroundings. They were among the founders of the Anderson Island Historical Society, setting up a working farm as a museum. Ms. Anderson added writing to her artistic traits and began this novel in the early 1990s. Encumbered with chronic health problems, she wrote furiously to complete the work. She also hosted weekend retreats for other writers in order to hone her writing skills. When Ms. Anderson died, in September 2007, a memorial service held at the Anderson Island Historical Museum was attended by former students from California, friends and relatives from around the world, and by just about all the residents of the island.