A new type of old settler
Exchange student’s novel a ‘love letter to Marion’
Staff writer
When Frederik Klein walks down Main St. in Marion on Saturday for Old Settlers Day, he’ll be returning to the town that inspired his novel.
“The Stang: A Kansas Tale,” a 590-page fictional retelling of Klein’s years as a German exchange student in Marion, will be released Thursday. The self-published novel is, in Klein’s words, a “love letter to the city.”
“I hope I represented Kansas well,” he said. “Especially all those who lived in Kansas in the ’90s will recognize it. I hope they recognize the whole ‘love letter’ idea.”
Klein, now 49, has spent nearly two years bringing the novel together. Its story draws from the people, places, and experiences of his summer trip to Kansas that turned into a seven-year stay.
“The town had a great impact on me, personally,” he said. “There were so many things that impressed me. … It showed me that hardworking mentality that I think Kansas stands for.”
That story began in 1993, when Klein, a native of Berlin, first visited Marion for a couple of weeks during an annual trip for German youths organized by Peggy Blackman. The summer afterward, he returned for what was supposed to be a vacation.
Instead, he stayed for a year. Then another.
By the time Klein returned to Germany in 2001, he had spent seven years in Kansas, graduated from Marion High School in 1996, and attended Emporia State University and DeVry University.
Jan Moffitt and her family were Klein’s host parents.
“If I remember right, he came back to visit one summer,” said Eric Albrecht, who befriended Klein. “It’s all kind of a blur, but at some point, he just kind of ended up staying.”
Klein remembers contrasts between the hustle-and-bustle in Germany and the slower pace of Marion. He jokes that he’s 60% Prussian and 40% Kansan. More than three decades after he first arrived, that distinction still feels appropriate.
“I had a wonderful, supportive community around me that embraced me unconditionally,” Klein said. “It was just a wonderful experience altogether, I’d say.”
In his novel, Klein included his host family, friends and influential teachers, though most names have been changed. Everyone, he said, is “treated with utmost respect and dignity.”
Klein also included a white-and-blue 1965 Ford Mustang that became both the title and cover art.
Few cars that embody the United States more than a Mustang, he said.
Albrecht remembers the car, and riding in it, too.
“I remember cruising up and down Main St.,” Albrecht said. “I remember going out to Marion County Lake and even the reservoir.”
Those drives were part of the ordinary moments that turned an exchange student into a member of the community.
“We just kind of clicked from the get-go,” Albrecht said. “We were just goofy. … We just had a fun time doing the typical things that we would do in Marion.”
When the two first met, Albrecht was impressed by how well Klein spoke English. By the time Klein returned to Germany, Albrecht said, his English “was perfect.”
That fluency eventually helped Klein in his career. Klein now works in real estate, where he said his ability to communicate comfortably in English has helped “open doors” with clients from places such as New York and Boston.
But Marion remained with him.
So did his family.
Klein’s father, who died 20 years ago, plays a role in the novel as well. As Klein worked through the book, he found himself returning to memories of phone calls with his father that connected him to Germany while living in Kansas.
“He passed away in 2006, and it was something that I needed to process,” Klein said. “Twenty years later, I recalled having these phone calls with him. They’re also a part of the novel.
“Those were very important to me, a very important anchor back towards Germany and his wisdom and contrast to Kansas.”
Writing began with what Klein described as “shower thoughts” — snippets of dialogue, scenes, and ideas that eventually needed to be woven into a coherent story.
He started with those pieces, then structured them and added connective tissue. An editor from Minnesota helped him along the way.
The result is a novel rooted in a place Klein never expected to call home.
“I didn’t do the Stephen King approach of just writing from start to finish,” he said with a laugh.
Now, Klein is returning here with a finished novel.
He will join alumni from classes of 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 for Saturday’s Old Settlers Day parade. For the first time in years, as well, there will be no homecoming football game the same weekend as Old Settlers Day.
He’ll also return to a place he considers home so strongly that he has the outline of Kansas tattooed on his arm.
This time, he’ll arrive not as a teenager but as an author.
Once released Thursday, “The Stang: A Kansas Tale” will be available in digital and paperback editions on Amazon. Digital copies will cost $9.99, while paperbacks will cost $25.99.
He will present the novel at Marion City Library before he flies back to Berlin on Oct. 2. A specific date and time had not been set as of Tuesday.
For Klein, the book’s release is a way of returning to a place that changed him and putting that experience on paper.
“It’s just about a person trying to find himself here, you know?” Klein said. “I think that’s universal, and I hope that people will enjoy it, whoever ends up reading it.”