Chapters 26 through 36 Summary

"The Queen in the Kitchen" is the first chapter in the third part of the book. Karl sees a beautiful kitchen stove called "The Prairie Queen" in the window of Newell's Hardware Store in St. Paul. The stove provides much more convenience for Kristina than her current method of cooking. Karl keeps it a secret until Christmas morning when he and the children manage to get it set up while Kristina is doing some outside chores. Kristina has given birth to another child, a boy named Frank, and the children all eat as much of the delicious Christmas dinner as they want. Kristina is fearful of another child bed, realizing that she is no longer as strong as she was as a young woman. She says that she has had a child at the breast and at least two hanging onto...