The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik | Book Talk with Denise Smith Cline

Set during the Great Depression, The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik is the story of two strong-hearted strangers, bent but not destroyed by grief and financial destitution. Vesta Blonik, an unmarried farm woman from Minnesota and Gordon Crenshaw, confined to Dorothea Dix Hospital after the death of his wife and child, meet through misleading letters written by Gordon’s family members. But reality doesn’t look at all like what was promised, and when they learn the truth, the two must find a path forward, together or apart.

Join the Dix Park Conservancy and So & So Books for a conversation with Denise Smith Cline, author of The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

At thirty years old and unmarried, Vesta Blonik’s future looks bleak when her widowed father remarries, sells the family farm, and moves away during the depths of the Great Depression, leaving her behind. Meanwhile, in eastern North Carolina, Gordon Crenshaw is engulfed in despair after losing his wife and newborn during childbirth. Concerned for his well-being, his family commits him to Dix Hill, the state mental hospital. Struggling against his grief, Gordon’s disruptive behavior leads his family to seek his release, but they learn he can only be discharged if a suitable caretaker is found.

Through connections in the Carolinas and Minnesota, the Crenshaws find Vesta and pose as Gordon, and her suitor, through letters that hide the truth of his situation. When Vesta agrees to marry Gordon, unaware of the deception, she travels south, only to learn the full extent of the Crenshaws’ lie after the wedding. Bound by necessity and circumstance, Vesta and Gordon must navigate their new life amid the tobacco fields of North Carolina, confronting their pasts and discovering the possibility of love in unexpected places.

Denise Smith Cline is an upstate South Carolina native and practicing attorney in Raleigh. Denise’s fiction and non-fiction has won awards from Carolina Woman, Salem College’s 2014 International Literary Contest, and the 23rd Annual Carteret Writers’ Contest. Her work has appeared in Prime Number, Carolina Woman, The Shoal, and the Raleigh News & Observer.

This program takes place inside the Chapel at Dix Park. From Western Boulevard, turn onto Hunt Drive. Turn LEFT onto Umstead Drive. Parking is located in front of the Chapel.

Contact Dix Park Conservancy staff at 919-996-3255 or [email protected]

Dix Park continues to strive to be accessible and welcoming for visitors, including those with disabilities. Currently, portions of Dix Park, including some areas where programs and events occur, have uneven surfaces and are not fully accessible. Accessibility is a primary focus for early park improvements and all future planning and development.

Parking: Accessible parking spaces are available in all lots.

Restrooms: Accessible port-a-johns are located at the Big Field and Flowers Field. Indoor accessible restrooms are available by the Stone Houses and at the Chapel during hours of operation.

Programs and events: Raleigh Parks Inclusion Services works with community members to support participation. To request a program modification based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please complete and submit the Accommodation Request Form or contact Inclusion Services staff at 919-996-2147 or [email protected].

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