Ames County Novel A Village Looks Ahead

When a flood uncovers a 1940 bank bag in the library basement, Link Lake must decide what--and who--it's willing to save. In A Village Looks Ahead, a small Wisconsin town wrestles with change as two efforts collide: a library writing class unearths the community's buried past while the mayor's Planning Commission pushes boldly toward self-reliance--food, power, and a future by design. Old mysteries resurface (including that long-whispered 1940 robbery), and new pressures mount: WLLK--"The Voice of Reason"--fans debate on the airwaves, a recall election splits neighbors, and a tornado drives families into the library's storm shelter. Through it all, librarian Jackie Jo Jensen and Mayor Jon Jessup ask a defining question: can a place honor what it was while becoming what it needs to be? As one townsman says, "When we forget our histories, we forget who we are." A warm, timely novel of memory, grit, and the everyday heroism of a community choosing its next chapter.