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Novelist’s story inspired by Minot

Retired journalist Ripley Watson from Jersey City, New Jersey, has self-published a novel with special interest paid to Minot. Watson said he was in part inspired by his grandfather, who had written a novel never published about James Fenimore Cooper, the author of “The Last of the Mohicans” and several other well-known titles. Watson was also inspired by the Minot area, which intrigued him.

“It is a great small city,” he said of Minot.

Recalling a visit to North Dakota via Amtrak for a job interview as a sports reporter in 2011, Watson said, “North Dakota left a very strong impression on me as being polar opposite from New York, just in how people reacted to each other and cared for each other.”

It was just after the Souris River flood that displaced hundreds of Minot residents.

“It was shared with me at the time that a shelter opened, but then it closed because people joined together to help each other. Back east, people don’t talk in coffee shops. It is weird to talk to someone, but in North Dakota, it is weird not to,” Watson said.

Watson said he had imagined the characters in his book “Chance of Grace” for years, and while Minot and several locations keep their real names and identities, two other towns are fictitious. Watson said they are not specifically modeled after any town.

The book is a late 1960s to mid-1970s and 1990s look into how people make life choices and decide how they want to live their lives, said Watson. The main characters are both from North Dakota and New Jersey, with intersecting lives. There also is a down-on-his-luck hockey player with a missed opportunity to have gone professional.

Watson said readers should recognize landmarks and similarities with Minot area, but the story is not based on real people. Watson said he never ended up taking the job that took him to North Dakota, but he has been back several times throughout the years, forming friendships on his journeys.

Watson hopes to return to Minot this spring.

“It’s been too long,” he said.

The book, “Chance of Grace,” is available on Amazon.

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