From Both Sides of the River: A Family Portrait

Anne Cutter Mikkelsen grew up in a boisterous Irish Catholic family in Anoka, Minnesota, on the banks of the Mississippi River. In awe of her larger-than-life parents-Mary Helen, a radio soap opera writer who later transformed herself into assistant to Simone (Simca) Beck in the South of France, and Darrah, a dashing WWII Navy flier and war hero who became an attorney and gentleman farmer-Anne and her seven siblings enjoyed an idyllic childhood. That is, until Anne turned sixteen, when her father vanished in the wilds of the Arctic.Inspired by her mother’s indomitable spirit, Anne goes on to study classical French cooking, and becomes a restaurateur and host of a TV cooking show. But despite her career success and pleasure in raising her four children, her father’s mysterious disappearance casts a profound shadow over Anne’s life.Two decades after losing her father, Anne discovers a record of her parents’ relationship-handwritten journals, letters, and one cryptic short story, which mystically appear when Anne needs them most. Seeking answers to what really happened to her father, Anne revisits her parents’ marriage, and is caught between what is memory and what is truth... and all that lies between. From Both Sides of the River is both an intimate portrait of a family, and the exhilarating story of how one woman’s journey into the past did indeed shine a new light on the people she loved. In illuminating her family’s story with tenderness and compassion, Anne helps us see our own.

Anne Cutter Mikkelsen lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her husband Mike, an artist who has lived with the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease for almost 30 years. She has four children and ten grandchildren. Anne is a ＂foodie＂ and advocate. She is the author of several short non-fiction stories. In 2010 she completed a memoir with recipes titled, Take Charge of Parkinson’s Disease: Dynamic Lifestyle Changes to Put YOU in the Driver’s Seat, published as a DiaMedica Guide to Optimum Wellness, DiaMedica Publishing, New York, N.Y. The third child of eight, Anne was born in New York, and grew up in Anoka, Minnesota, beside the Mississippi River. She studied classic French cooking in Provence, at L’Ecole de Trois Gourmandes, with Simone (Simca) Beck, Julia Child’s writing and cooking partner. Anne owned and operated two restaurants, a catering business and a B&B in Minnesota. She hosted a cooking show, Cooking with Panache, produced by NTV in Northfield, Minnesota.