The Witches of White Pine Country
1870, Minnesota. Immigrants pour in to fell vast forests of white pines, lumberjacks seeking their fortunes in the New World. More than one brought witchcraft from the Old World.
A novel in progress.
Irish immigrant and Civil War hero Jack Hagen has made it his mission to find and teach immigrant children born with craft. But few can be found in a rapidly industrializing America leveling its wilderness for profit.
When Hagen returns to Minnesota, timber barons have begun clearing what once seemed a limitless ocean of white pines, and Qlik is cashing in. Saved by Hagen as a baby, Qlik failed to develop craft. Bitter and ambitious, he means to make his fortune as an ordinary man. He won’t let Hagen get in his way.
Hagen’s return comes too late for his long-time love, Helena. Worn down by another of his mysterious absences, she sets out on a perilous journey toward a new life, one that will separate them forever. To find her, Hagen turns to dark craft, as ruinous as the industries he despises.
Only Qlik can stop him. But to do it, he’ll have to wield the old-world witchcraft he’s always believed to be the blessing of others.
© 2026 Pauli Ek. Image “Lumberjacks Sawing a Log” by Frank Eiseman (1939), courtesy of The National Gallery of Art.