Finding Josie

By Wendy Bilen

With a focus squarely on the Midwest, Wendy Bilen pieces together the history of her grandmother, Josie Broadhead, born in 1911 and raised on the North Dakota prairie. Josie married a Wisconsin farmer and moved to a large dairy farm outside La Crosse; along the way she began taking in people in need of a home: ". . . beggars and drunks and children of drunks, mentally ill children and children with mentally ill parents. Brothers and cousins and sisters and in-laws and strangers."

By taking on these challenges that no one else wanted, Josie left an almost mythical legacy. Years after Josie's death, Bilen embarks on a journey to unearth Josie's story and quickly realizes that the search is about her, too. As she discovers her grandmother's complicated nature ("a woman proud and humble, loving and unaffectionate, strict and visionary, joyful and troubled, a woman held together by contradictions like an arch and its capstone"), she learns much about herself and her own choices. And as she breathes life into Josie and her family, friends, and neighbors, the author evokes a powerful sense of place of small towns and farms, of prairie, of Josie's home, all of which feel both fresh and satisfyingly familiar.

Much more than mere memoir or family history, this dual story about Bilen's journey illuminates the surprising ways our lives intersect with our ancestors'. An extraordinary story about a seemingly ordinary woman, Finding Josie will inspire readers to explore their own family history in their own way.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870203916
• ISBN13: 9780870203916
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking

Through her poetic writing, Ms. Bilen creates a vivid picture of her family history that exposes the struggles and victories with each twist and turn on her journey. The author not only discovers her family's past but also about who she's becoming. What the author finds in her grandmother's story is a woman who possesses great strength and humility, serving others and living out her faith when life around her is far from easy. As Ms. Bilen rediscovers who her grandmother really was, Bilen makes new discoveries about who she really wants to be. A thought provoking read. (Submitted by journeypaul's wife).

Moving story of discovering a real-life heroine

Wendy Bilen is a friend and former classmate of mine, but even if she weren't, I'd love this book! Her search to learn more about her grandmother, Josie Broadhead, revealed a woman who consistently lived out God's love by putting others first, even when it was hard, unglamorous, and unfair. She opened her home and heart to needy children even when it felt completely unrewarding. There are no pedestals here -- Wendy paints a realistic picture of Josie's blunt, straightforward personality, of the stress she endured, and of what it did to her. But she also shows how Josie rose above stress and strain to make a difference. Her quietly heroic life inspires her granddaughter, who's looking for ways to make her own life more meaningful, and it will inspire readers as well. The deep connection between Josie and Wendy even after the former's death, and the way Josie's life gets Wendy thinking about how to use her own, helps make the story of this woman born in 1911 relevant to readers nearly a century later.