I am very happy to welcome Elizabeth Gauffreau here on Good News Friday. She has a new book and it is good news for sure. So without any delay. Here is Liz to talk about her book.
Introduction
Thank you for hosting me on my blog tour for The Weight of Snow and Regret, John! For today’s tour stop, I’m giving a brief overview of the historical context of the poor farm system in Vermont. But first, here’s what The Weight of Snow and Regret is all about.
Description
For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave. Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever.
Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need, herself and Paul included.
On a frigid January afternoon, the overseer of the poor and the town constable from a nearby town deliver a stranger to the poor farm for an emergency stay. She refuses to tell them her name, where she came from, or what her story is. It soon becomes apparent to Hazel that whatever the woman’s story is, she is deeply ashamed of it.
Hazel fights to keep the stranger with them until she is strong enough to face, then resume, her life—while Hazel must face the tragedies of her own past that still haunt her.
Told with compassion and humor, The Weight of Snow & Regret tells the poignant story of what it means to care for others in a rapidly changing world.
Historical Context for the Weight of Snow and Regret
The approach I took to writing the novel (and the reason I’m eager for people to read it) is to honor the history of the Sheldon Poor Farm and the people who lived, worked, and died there by creating characters that readers would come to understand and care about. The job of fiction, in other words!
The Poor Farm System: 19th Century
I researched the history of the poor farm system in Vermont, which was inherited from 17th-century Elizabethan poor laws.
The Poor Farm System: 20th Century
In the 20th-century, the historical context was a transition from specific localities’ being responsible for the poor to the federal government’s assuming responsibility for the social safety net, with the states responsible for administering the federal benefits programs. (Two of the characters in the book are adamantly opposed to the state’s taking over.) The road sign in the image is for the road to Sheldon Poor Farm. It’s easy to find similar poor farm road signs in Vermont and New Hampshire, particularly on the back roads
The Poor Farm Residents
The next image outlines the two categories of poor farm residents, temporary and permanent, and the primary reasons people would have been sent there.
Conditions at the Sheldon Poor House
I was surprised at how much information about the living conditions I was able to find simply by reading local newspapers. I was also surprised at the range of conditions. As the timeline below indicates, living conditions for the residents were either exemplary or appalling. (The 1931 abuse allegations included a straightjacket for unruly residents and one room used as a jail. I couldn’t find anything further about whether the allegations were actually addressed.)
Books2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/WeightofSnow
Author Biography
Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.
She has previously published a novel, Telling Sonny: The Story of a Girl Who Once Loved the Vaudeville Show, and two collections of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance and Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right.
Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.
Click/tap to follow blog tour: https://lizgauffreau.com/the-weight-of-snow-and-regret-blog-tour-2/
Also more good news Eternal Road – The last stop is free on Amazon US today through Sunday. Here is the link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL135KQ
The good news here is that Liz has a new book. Today’s JohnKu talks about books. I hope you have a super weekend.
Books by John W. Howell © 2025
New ones are published,
We greet them like new neighbors . . .
Go and check them out.
