Ashwood
Following a severe global economic depression, the U.S. government struggles to feed people and create jobs. The Bureau of Human Capital Management assesses skills and assigns job matches. Anne Hartford arrives at Ashwood, a Minnesota estate, with one suitcase and two boxes. She finds hungry child workers plus threats from a corrupt bureaucrat. She must find the way to rebuild Ashwood and her life.
“Combining elements of The Handmaid’s Tale and Jane Eyre, Ashwood presents a vision of the future that is familiar and chilling…”
—David Mura, author of Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire and other books
Harvesting Ashwood
How do quasi-governmental units established to feed, shelter and educate citizens navigate ever-changing order? Harvesting Ashwood follows Anne Hartford, owner and general manager of a former government agricultural installation through challenges that threaten profitability of raising crops for both the public and private markets, the illogical infringement of the military, and policy that could destroy her family.
“Big Brother goes stark raving mad in Harvesting Ashwood. Cynthia Kraack’s engrossing drama about family love versus an unfeeling bureaucracy paints a dystopian future that’s scary as hell…”
—David Housewright, Edgar Award winning author
Leaving Ashwood
If mega global corporations ruled the world would life be all that bad? Anne Hartford, CEO of Hartford Enterprises, has built a business after a global depression with hopes that financial security will protect her family. Can one business leader challenge a government no longer connected to its citizens? The cost of being on the wrong side will be catastrophic. Leaving Ashwood is not a decision simply made.
“With Anne Hartford, Kraack gives us a vivid and resilient heroine for our troubled times and beyond.”
—Elizabeth Searle, author of Girl Held in Home and Celebrities in Disgrace