The book is a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. Yes, her father really was a Swedish Baptist minister with eight children, and yes, the family came to America when Thyra [fictional name Charlotte] was a teenager, just as they did in the book.
In the book, she was given the nickname "Button" when she was a newborn baby. I wonder if she was called "Button" in real life; I like to think that she was.
Now for the spoiler.
In real life, Frans August Ferre [Papa] died and was buried in Massachusetts. In the book, his fictional counterpart dies while he and Maria [Mama] are visiting Sweden for the first time since coming to America. Deacon Lund, a character in the book, says: "God never makes a mistake. Pastor Franzon taught us that. He will sleep now, where he would have wanted to sleep his last sleep-in Swedish soil"
I like to think that having his fictional counterpart "sleep his last sleep... in Swedish soil" was Thyra Ferre Bjorn's little gift to her late, beloved Papa.
