You can explore the Great Peshtigo Fire from a different viewpoint as part of a book discussion hosted by the Kewaunee County Historical Society later this month.
Susan Levitte’s Secrets in the Woods is a historical fiction novel that follows a young Belgian immigrant girl as she handles the stress her family endured during the Great Peshtigo Fire.
In preparation for writing the book, Levitte reviewed archived newspaper clippings and sifted through firsthand accounts of the fire, which burned between 1.2 million and 1.5 million acres and killed between 1,200 and 2,400 people.
A local history buff, Levitte believes that while the nation may gravitate to the tale of a cow and a lantern that nearly destroyed the city of Chicago, the circumstances surrounding the Great Peshtigo Fire were a much more worthy pursuit.
Levitte will host her author talk at the Kewaunee County Historical Society in Kewaunee on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. The event is free to attend, and copies of her best-selling book will be available for purchase.
