A thoroughly enjoyable and well-researched historical novel set in the Dust Bowl years in Texas and beyond. Told from the points of view of Ruby Lee and her mother Willa Mae., the novel portrays the hardscrabble life lived by many in the US in the depression, and the effects of drought and deprivation on working people. It also shows us in gripping detail what institutions were like in the 1930s – the portrayals of the orphanage and asylum are poignant and make you shudder.

Ruby Lee is written in an engaging vernacular style, as are her companions on this journey which takes her from being an innocent ten year old to being an adult shaped by her tough experiences. She’s a character you can root for, and the reader wills her to succeed. Her mother Willa Mae is sensitively drawn as a woman whose mind is affected not only by the devastating loss of her family and home, but also by the treatment she must endure in the asylum. – the freezing baths and electric shock treatment.

Historical fiction readers will appreciate the attention to detail, the overalls and aprons hung on the lines by the railroad, the way the children in the orphanage were lined up in sailor suits to have their sham photograph taken, Willa Mae’s memories of the smell of the glove factory. This is a novel for the reader to savour small details that conjure a different time and place.

Although she has a constant longing for home, Ruby Lee develops her own version of morality and resourcefulness as she navigates being dealt the short straw in life. The novel is a wonderful slice of Americana with a heroine to take to your heart, and I highly recommend it.

Connect with Jann

Jann Alexander is an artist photographer and novelist. Her stunning photography features Vanishing Austin, Mother Earth, and Texana, and the Journey into the American southwest and Mexico, along the Mission Trail.

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