Julia Park Tracey, founding editor of the former Alameda Sun, a founding board member of the Alameda Post, Poet Laureate Emeritus of Alameda, and prolific author, including of the Veronika Layne mystery series set in Alameda, has just published her latest novel, Whoa, Nelly! A Love Story with Footnotes. If Tracey’s recent novels, Silence and The Bereaved, have honored her family’s history, Whoa, Nelly! is more revealing of herself in a sharp, humorous, soulful heroine’s journey that is a love letter to literary misfits.
Whoa, Nelly! features lonely librarian Nelly, who is comfortably settled in a job she intended to be a stepping-stone toward a brilliant career as a novelist and literature professor. At 45, she has been working at her city library since college. As much as she enjoys indulging her passion for books, she feels stuck professionally and personally—no novels written, no literature classes taught, no boyfriend, plus unhealed trauma, partly thanks to a triggering, difficult mother who reinforces her self-doubt.
Enter Little House on the Prairie books, the children’s novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder based on her childhood and youth in the pioneering days of the American Midwest. The spirited, resilient, feisty character of Laura has always felt like a lifelong friend and represented everything Nelly wished she could be, helping her through tough times since childhood. When Nelly is unexpectedly laid off, she impulsively takes a dream trip, boarding a train to De Smet, South Dakota where she joins other members of Little House on the Prairie fandom on a tour of Laura Ingalls Wilder heritage sites.
Nelly dreams of the kind of love she hopes to find. “Laura gives (Almanzo) permission to love her. He doesn’t take it from her without asking. He isn’t that kind of man. How much stronger a role model could a girl have?” In searching for her heroine, Nelly finds herself.
The solace of literary friends
If you’ve ever taken solace in a well-worn paperback, felt that a literary character was like a real friend, or thoroughly immersed yourself in a fandom, you’ll relate to Nelly. In interviews, Tracey admits she has been obsessed with the Little House books all her life and that Nelly is her literary doppelganger. “As a child, I used to want to wear long dresses,” Tracey says. “I wished I could ride in a covered wagon. I wanted to go to school in a one-room schoolhouse. I even went on a wagon trek wearing a bonnet for three days.”
Similarly, Nelly regularly logs onto LauraLand, a fictional fan site for Laura Ingalls Wilder enthusiasts to peruse all the usual activities of fandoms—scholarly presentations, farcical discussions, costumed re-creation events, fan fiction, and more. “The world of Little House fans is odd, quirky, and strangely enough, very much like a warm log cabin in water. It’s cozy, a little isolated, but it’s probably better that way.” Tracey portrays this kind of community with warmth and humor.
Nelly notes the life lessons she learned from the books: “From Little House on the Prairie, I learned that houses and neighbors change… I learned about building something from nothing and then walking away from it all… Many times, so many times, I have been miserable, sad, brokenhearted, alone, and made it through my feelings by getting busy. Laura and Ma taught me that.”
It is on the LauraLand website that Nelly learns about a Laura Ingalls Wilder heritage tour organized by a fellow fan. She’s unemployed and badly needs to conserve money, but a blowout argument with her mother ends up being the impetus that leads her to make a break and finally do something just for herself: “I did it then—I hung up on my mother. I was shaking…This kind of anguish is deeper than skin, breath, memory, death.”
A heroine’s journey
If the classic hero’s journey is an external quest for conquest, ala Star Wars, Whoa, Nelly! is a heroine’s internal journey to healing and self-discovery. Nelly’s very name represents her struggle with self-acceptance and trying to overcome her mother’s criticism. In the Little House books, Nelly is the name of Laura’s archnemesis, and Nelly wishes her mother had given her almost any name other than the one she is saddled with: “How did Laura manage to break through the glass ceiling that her mother and grandmother had laid upon her?”
On the train ride, she literally and figuratively begins her journey: “Today, I vowed, I will step outside my comfort zone. I will. I’d say hello to two people…” Tracey admits to a passion for train travel; her descriptions of Amtrak life are vivid and amusing: “The lounge was quiet enough for now, with California farmland rolling past and the Sierras in view already. There was snow on the high slopes, and I wondered how cold we’d be. And if there was enough food for the crossing. And if we got stuck in the snow, who’d be the first one to get eaten.”
A funny thing happens when Nelly finally meets her fellow LauraLanders. They have no baggage at all around her name and are simply amused, assuming it’s a playful pseudonym. Having spent so much of her life behind desks and computer screens, coming into real contact with fellow LauraLanders is a revelation—a finding of her tribe. It’s healing, even as she encounters her own arch-nemesis in the form of Lorena, the seemingly perfect LauraLander, who is beautiful, flawlessly costumed, eloquent on Little House lore, and commanding of male attention.
Enter Al, the Whoa, Nelly! version of Almanzo Wilder, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s romantic interest and eventual husband. Nelly is sure he’ll be snapped up by lovely Lorena. But then a classic midwestern blizzard, like the one in the Little House series, both reduces life to what is essential and stirs up new feelings.
Footnotes as inner voice
The subtitle for “Whoa, Nelly!” is “A Love Story with Footnotes.” Footnotes are indeed sprinkled liberally throughout, functioning as snarky asides, an inner voice, and a way for Nelly to reveal not only her librarian’s relish for being a know-it-all, but also aspects of her personality she is timid about sharing out loud.
The footnote for a sentence that benignly begins, “I packed … lots of comfy academic attire,” for instance, is, “I love a tight neckline, buttoned to the top, with a bowtie or a brooch. Just try and see my cleavage. I dare you.”
When Nelly finally arrives at her destination, an idealized place that has lived in her heart for so long, she finds it overwhelming—both far more and far less than she expected, forcing her to reckon not only with the darker legacy of the Little House series, such as its revisionist nostalgia, but also with what the books have meant to her personally for so long. The footnote response is: “And why I couldn’t just let it all wash over me is part of the tangle. Just relax and enjoy it—or anything. Hyper-vigilance, I guess. You know. Trauma.”
Still, by the time Nelly journeys home by train, she finds the courage to rescue both a child in danger and herself, reclaiming her own story.
Final thoughts
If you’ve ever savored a beloved series of books, found comfort in your loneliness in the companionship of a literary character, enjoyed being part of a fandom, or wished for a romance where the nerdy girl gets the guy, Whoa, Nelly! is for you. And if you’ve ever loved the perennially popular Little House series, then the inside humor and references will be a delightful cherry on top. Tracey is a seasoned writer and it shows in her rich, honest, and open writing style.
Individuals orders for Whoa, Nelly! can be placed through Books Inc. on Park Street by calling 510-522-2226. Whoa Nelly! is also available wherever books are sold online.
Contributing writer Karin K. Jensen covers boards and commissions for the Alameda Post, as well as occasional book reviews for authors and books related to Alameda. Her book, The Strength of Water, an Asian American Coming-of-Age Memoir, was published on November 7. Her writing is collected at https://linktr.ee/karinkjensen and https://alamedapost.com/Karin-K-Jensen.
