The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

A butcher from Germany runs out of money in North Dakota so he finds work there and settles into American life shortly after WWI. Eventually he has his own shop and a family in the small ND town. There he comes into contact with our heroine, an itinerant circus act performer, who also settles in the town and becomes an employee and best friend of the butcher's wife. The fate of the heroine and the butcher's family during WWII becomes a focal point in their story with a surprise twist at the end. Erdrich is an excellent writer even though she waxes a bit poetic at times, and this novel is a good read.