In the Works

 Here are the stories I'm in the process of writing:

Waves of Wheat (Dibbens)
 ARJ Dibbens immigrates with his mum, dad, brother, and sister from the Isle of Wight,
England, to the wild west cattle town of Wichita, Kansas, in 1872. His family settles on land near a creek with a small cabin. Everything is going well until one night....

 

 

 

Simeon and the Cave (Edwards-Swartz)

Have you ever felt you should do something you couldn't explain?  Follow Simeon and his family during their early years settling on the Kansas prairie in the 1870s. Living in the wilderness can be unpredictable and dangerous. Obey, and you may experience God's providence that can't be explained....

 

 

 

Here are the stories I'm developing: 

 

From Castles to Kansas (Hawkinson-Nelson)

All Jenny has ever known is the transitory life as the daughter of a traveling tailor family, making the rounds to small villages and castle grounds of southern Sweden. What will she find if she leaves her job as a maid at Marsvinsholm Castle to make a new life on the 1870s Kansas prairie?

 

 The Name Quilt (Rutkowski-Warnken) Not sure about the title yet.

Frank Rutkowski grows up in a first-generation German immigrant home. He has his share of heartbreak and hard times and ultimately raises six daughters on the Kansas prairie with his wife. 

 

 

 Here are the stories I've written: 

 

 

By-Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk (Johnson-Johnson)
 

In 1868, Johan’s dreams of building a life on the family farm in Byarum, Sweden, have slipped beyond his reach. With little future ahead except conscription or a hard life as a hired farmhand, he faces an unbearable choice: remain in the only home he has ever known or risk everything for the promise of America.
Leaving behind the familiar countryside of rural Sweden, Johan begins a journey marked by optimism, heartbreak, hope, and unexpected joy. Thousands of miles from home, he must navigate the hardships of settling in a new land alone.
A sweeping story of courage, family, and the immigrant dream, this novel reminds us that sometimes the life we find is greater than the one we imagined.

 

What I'm working on in June 2026...

 I have several projects going right now. The one closest to being ready is the story of my Dibbens family, who came from the Isle of Wight, England, in the 1870s. Most of the chapters are written. I'm starting on the editing stage this summer and would love to have it published by fall. 

It's the story of my great-grandpa, Arthur Robert Jarman Dibbens, known in the family as ARJ. He was about six when his family moved to America. Some pretty traumatic things happened to him and the rest of the family once they were settled in Wichita, 1874. (Think Cowtown if you live around here. If you don't, just bring to mind the Wild, Wild, West!)

It's been a great story to write from his perspective.  

By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk, by Shari L Edwards

 

What I Do

 

I am a former elementary school teacher, devoted family historian, and lifelong lover of a good story. For thirty years, I have traced my ancestors through Sweden, England, Germany, and Kansas—the state I call home and where all eight of my great-grandparents settled in the 1800s. 

Drawn to genealogy by the rich stories hidden in family records, I attempt to bring the past to life in ways that connect history to the heart and memory. 

 

I've even been known to create a whole interdisciplinary unit of study around my Uncle Reuben, who appears in my first book, By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk, and his incredible adventures across America between 1920 and 1930. 

A good story goes a long way in helping people, mostly my family, remember the characters (their ancestors) and events in their family history. Although it's a little bit dry, family group chart does a good job with the Who, What, When, and Where, but there's nothing like a story to delve into the Whys and the Hows!  

That's why I'm writing my Kansas-based novels about my ancestors and calling them The Prairie Trees books. 

Newly Published:

By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk: the Story of John A Johnson - Available now on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon:

Waves of Wheat: From the Isle of Wight to the Prairies of Kansas

 

Book 3 

Book 4 

 

 

 

 

I am the mother of three and grandmother of two. When I am not digging through old documents or writing my latest manuscript, I can often be found under my red umbrella, admiring my flowers or cheering on my grandchildren at the ball field and in the rodeo arena.

 

Happy reading!

Shari L Edwards 

Thank you for visiting!

I am a retired teacher and blogger for Scholastic Corporation. I now write Creative Nonfiction novels related to my family's history. I love to travel, meet new relatives in far-off places, study our genealogy, collect stories, and write them for others to read. 

I just published my first novel, By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk, about a great-grandpa who immigrated to the US from Sweden in 1869. 

Thank you for reading! 

 By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk, the Story of John A Johnson is available on Amazon.

Visit the blog for By Gosh Johnson and the Long Walk.