Local author John T. Umhoefer coming to Author Talk at the McIntosh Memorial Library to talk about his new novel “Trempealeau”

VIROQUA, Wis. – The McIntosh Memorial Library will host Wisconsin author John T. Umhoefer for an author talk on his first novel Trempealeau. The event is scheduled for Thursday, February 15 at 5:30pm in the McIntosh Memorial Library Lobby. During the program John will discuss his process, read from his book, and share what went into writing his first novel. The author will be hosting a book sale and signing at the end of the presentation. Trempealeau, the first book in the Trempealeau Stories series, is the debut novel from author John T. Umhoefer, a lifelong writer, former journalist, current leader of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association and food industry columnist.

In the novel, the U.S. government discovers the astonishing secret at the center of a mysterious circle during World War II, a secret that residents in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, have hidden for decades with deadly violence.

The Skylab transmission of this phenomenon fires the imagination of two curious teen boys from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and young Jennifer von Guericke, whose family farm marked the epicenter of the circle described from space. Her father’s disappearance soon after the Skylab report tore apart her family, and now, twenty-nine years later, in 2003, Jen has returned home to bury her estranged mother. Jennifer meets Paul Meadows, the La Crosse man whose friend Peter mysteriously disappeared during their childhood explorations of the circle.

Now a new generation, led by Trempealeau County cheesemaker Steve Schleusener, must decide if they will keep the secret of the ill-fated pond at the center of the circle or help Paul and Jennifer learn the truth. But the secret is stirring. Mysterious earthquakes, building in strength, are shaking the globe, and the pathway in the pond threatens to destroy not only one world, but two.

John T. Umhoefer spent his childhood scrambling up the bluffs of La Crosse, Wisconsin, finding mysteries in every quiet coulee. From his roots in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, John ventured to the University of Wisconsin to gain a degree in journalism. Always writing but never a writer, his Midwest pragmatism led him through trade journalism, public relations, and finally leadership of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. There he found the voice, the work ethic and generational sense of place among the craftsmen in dairy that would forever ground his roving imagination in tilled fields, dark bars and hidden valleys. Trempealeau, book one of the Trempealeau Stories series, is his first book.