May I suggest an older novel (for those of you who allow yourselves novels and believe that the river of truth runs through fiction) Giants in the Earth: a Saga of the Prairie by O. E. Rolvaag, translated from the Norwegian in 1927?
It is the story of Norwegian immigrants who first broke the sod in South Dakota, where the temperature reaches 105 in the summer and 40 below zero in the winter. When they arrived there, there was nothing but tall grass--no songbirds and no insects except mosquitoes.
The novel deals with Lutheran theology in the background, especially the subject of God's punishment for sins.
Also, there is a new book of non-fiction on this subject of South Dakota during pioneer days entitled The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin. On January 12, 1888, a blizzard hit. The temperature dropped from the 30s to 40 below by midnight. It dropped 18 degrees in 4 minutes at the start of the blizzard. 100 childred died, mostly trying to get home from school. Many more adults died and herds of livestock perished.
Rolvaag calls the last chapter (on the blizzard) of this 465 page book "The Great Plain Drinks the Blood of Christian Men and Is Satisfied."
60% of the population left South Dakota within 10 years after January 12, 1988.
Praying for you and yours the great joy of the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.