Local writer Deb A Patrow says the city of Riggins, Idaho is what inspired her to write her first novel, Acres of Bitterness, which came out earlier this year. “The mountains and rivers, everything out there was so pretty,” Patrow said. The novel starts out in the year 1905, in the midst of the Nez Perce Indian War. To avoid having to move to a reservation, 17-year-old Josie and her family relocate from their home in Idaho to a new town in North Dakota. Thirty years pass. Josie gets married and has a family, but nagging feelings to uncover secrets of her past continue to reside inside of her. Nightmares interrupt her sleep, and make Josie wonder if war was the only reason her family moved away. Patrow says the story is about “traveling back and finding things that were a mystery to her.” You can find a copy of Acres of Bitterness at Crossroad Books or at the art co-op Tangled up In Hue, both in downtown Eau Claire.