Shaky Apron Strings is a gem of a book, a labor of love and family connection spanning four generations through the letters, diaries and writings of a line of remarkable women. In these pages, the collected letters and diaries of mother, Blanche, and daughter, Dorothy, are carefully curated and preserved by granddaughter, Mary, in a labor of care and love for the generations of family yet to come. The collected writings provide an intimate portrait of the times in which the women lived, their respective triumphs and heartbreaks, their quiet, shining moments and their private musings and concerns. The common struggles of living and working in the upper Midwest during the Depression suffuse the book with a sense of place, the fierce frugality and dedication of a family as they scrimp and save to send their only daughter to Albion College. The collected letters from those years are replete with fondness and affection, news of the day, family dynamics and the nuanced tug and pull of the subtleties between mother and daughter as they make their way through their lives. Their story arc is shaped between the covers of this book as a testament to the lasting legacy that their letters have created long beyond their individual lives. Blanche and Dorothy each emerge in these pages as individual threads, spinning their respective yarns, entwined with one another into a cord connecting past to present.