Esko area author Elaine Osborne’s book, “If I Felt Alone,” was recently nominated for a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award in the nonfiction category.

Osborne’s book tells the story of the massive sewage spills near her home and the effects on her health and her life, as she fought to get officials at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District to acknowledge and rectify the damage done.

Tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage — wastewater that included industrial waste from the paper mill in Cloquet along with fecal matter — spilled into the Maki Swamp near Osborne’s home o...