Is Mill Creek a real place?

Was Gittel a real person?

Gittel is set in the fictional town of Mill Creek, Wisconsin, but the surrounding towns and many of the landmarks mentioned in the book are real places. My fictional Mill Creek was based on the town of Arpin, the site of the only Jewish agricultural colony in Wisconsin. To learn more about Arpin, see the video below. 

All of the townspeople and most of the events that take place in Mill Creek are fictional as well, but Gittel and her family are loosely based on members of my own family, including -- and especially -- my mother, Gloria, whose name was Gittel when she came to the United States from Romania at age two. She’s thirteen in this photo, the same age as the title character in my novel.