Great Depression Fiction

Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Elsa must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

In the early 1920s, Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer fresh out of the army. He settled in Youngstown, Ohio, a booming Midwestern industrial town. Times were good—until the stock market crash of 1929. After nearly two years of economic crisis, it was clear that the heady prosperity of the Roaring Twenties would not return quickly.

In this fascinating tale set in 1919, the Thomas family leaves New Orleans for Chicago as part of the Great Migration, seeking equality denied in the South. They are confident and optimistic. But hope is extinguished when they are met by 6,000 National Guard troops deployed to quell an earlier race riot. Linda and Ben prepare their nephew Trey to lead the family through the treacherous landscape of a big city plagued by segregation, police violence, and corruption. Is he ready? They devise a risky plan to challenge real estate covenants banning Blacks from buying homes in white ...

THE RETURN OF MARY After fourteen exceptionally long years, Mary Bentley, who was missing since the age of five has at last been found by her mum through what most would consider a profound miracle. Now a young woman, she must learn to reacquaint herself with the her biological family who are essentially strangers to her. But what will happen to the relationship between Mary and the loving Irish couple who raised her as their own for all of those years? They live a simple life on a rural farm in Dixon, England, and forge through life with very few luxuries, but have given Mary a God-fearing...

The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had this book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of this crucial subject.

In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.

The Great Depression was more than an economic collapse — it was a test of endurance, faith, and determination for millions of people across America and around the world. In this compelling and accessible history, Surviving the Great Depression takes readers on a journey through one of the most challenging eras of the twentieth century. Blending clear explanations with vivid storytelling, it explores not only the causes and consequences of the Depression but also the ways ordinary people coped, adapted, and found hope in the darkest of times. Inside, you’ll discover: The Stock Market ...

"Bridges We Build" takes readers into the heart of Watertown, New York, during the darkest days of the Great Depression. Through the eyes of Maggie O'Connor, a resilient housewife, the novel explores the intertwining lives of working-class families, small business owners, and local leaders as they struggle to survive—and ultimately rebuild—amidst economic collapse. From factory layoffs to neighborhood food drives, Maggie becomes the emotional anchor of her community, finding strength in resourcefulness and solidarity. As her husband Jim grapples with the shame of losing his job and ...

Artie knows that an unusual gift from his teacher can only mean one thing; his dream of becoming a magician is certain to come true. Why else would she give a top hat to an 11-year-old boy? With his brother Tommy, neighbor Pauline, and Maggie the dressmaker dummy by his side, things are finally looking up, until life around him gets weird. His parents refuse to admit that anything is wrong, but a mysterious knock on the door reveals that Artie's greatest fear has come true. They can call it anything they want, even put whipped cream and a cherry on top of it, but there's no way Artie can ...

WITH BONUS PICTURES! A coming-of-age story of survival, resilience, and hope in mid-century America. Nan is born in 1931 in a small Michigan town, the ninth child in a family with little more than love and determination to hold them together. Her childhood unfolds during the Great Depression, where poverty and hunger are constant companions. When war erupts overseas, tragedy strikes closer to home, reshaping her world forever. From a one-room schoolhouse to a life shadowed by loss, betrayal, and hardship, Nan must find strength where none seems to exist. As she grows into womanhood, she ...

Jewelry designer Lindsey McKenna is thrilled to be working at an antique exhibit at a local landmark that has been her obsession: the Wind Thorne estate. During the 1920s, it roared. Until an unsolved murder shadowed its legacy. Today, restored as a museum, Wind Thorne draws crowds of visitors to upstate New York. When one of them approaches Lindsey with an old diary, Lindsey is drawn deeper into Wind Thorne’s storied past.

Imagine opening a long-forgotten trunk to find diaries written by your foremothers. Four generations of thoughts, heartaches, challenges and triumphs. What lessons did they write inside the yellowed pages? What lessons could they gift you now? THE LEGACY OF MAVIS MCCALL – Book Three of the Silver Cross Ranch Legacy It takes a bit of conniving and a few subtle lies, but Mavis finds what she’s been searching for when, against her father’s wishes, she’s accepted to study at the Colorado College of Agriculture. She can’t imagine how life could get any better. Halcyon days are filled ...

Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff's family, they've got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They're who the town turns to when there's a crisis or a need. Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother's unshakable belief in a God. Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River.

Spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer explores the question of human identity and shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and achieve happiness and self-realization.

Julianna Crosby feels adrift at forty-four, her comfortable life a gilded cage of unfulfilling routine. Desperate for a “do over,” she stumbles upon an estate sale and a mysterious cardboard box simply marked “My Life.” Inside, a collection of seemingly random trinkets holds the key to a woman’s extraordinary journey, sparking an unexpected quest for meaning in Julianna’s own restless soul. From the rebellious River Bluff teenager who dreamt of Hollywood glamour in 1936, to the steadfast wife and mother navigating the heartbreaks of war and unexpected loss, Miriam Tucker’s ...

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Gold Medal, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel offers an unforgettable account of Hitler's horrific reign of terror in Night. This definitive edition features a new translation from the original French by Wiesel's wife and frequent translator, Marion Wiesel.

The New York Times best-selling author of The Roaring 2000s guides listeners through the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The first and last economic depression that you will experience in your lifetime is just ahead. The years 2009 and 2010 will be the initial end of prosperity in almost every market, ushering in a downturn like most of us have not experienced before.

In the 1930s, photographer Dorothea Lange traveled the American West documenting the experiences of those devastated by the Great Depression. She wanted to use the power of the image to effect political change, but even she could hardly have expected the effect that a simple portrait of a worn-looking woman and her children would have on history.

Legendary writer Trevanian brings readers his most personal novel yet: a funny, deeply felt, often touching autobiographical novel destined to become a classic American coming-of-age story.

Grown-ups lie. That's one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means "locals") in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds. It's 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn't anyone's fool. In fact he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself.