Frank Carlson Library

Texas. 1921: A time of abundance. Elsa Wolcott meets Rafe Martinelli and changes the direction of her life. Her only choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. 1934: Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. Elsa Martinelli, like so many of her neighbors, must make an agonizing...

2 CHILDREN FOR SALE The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs and broken dreams. It could have been written by any mother facing impossible choices. For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences...

This charming, old-fashioned story of a girl growing up during the depression will convince you that anything is possible. Against a backdrop of authentic hardship and despair, 13-year-old Virginia Eade discovers the true source of happiness. A doctor's daughter, Virginia spends her days dreaming of romance with "the two Charlies"-Charles Lindburgh and Charlie Chaplin. Soon Virginia is forced to give up her room to less fortunate relatives, and failed...

"Kentucky packhorse librarian Tansy Calhoun doesn't mind the rough trails and long hours as she serves her mountain community during the Great Depression. Even the rough people-like ornery Perdita Sweet-have their charms. But can love bloom in such rocky soil?"-- Kentucky packhorse librarian Tansy Calhoun doesn't mind the rough trails and long hours as she serves her Appalachian mountain community during the Great Depression. When a charming writer...

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

"It's one thing to say you can find what people need--it's another to actually do it. It's 1932 and Sullivan Harris is on the run. An occasionally successful dowser, he promised the people of Kline, West Virginia, that he would find them water. But when wells turned up dry, he disappeared with their cash just a step or two ahead of Jeremiah Weber, who was elected to run him down. Postmistress Gainey Floyd is suspicious of Sulley's abilities when he...

"Hurtling past the downtrodden communities of Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming. Through a stroke of luck, he's landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new Post Office. A wealthy art lover named John Long and his wife Eve have agreed to host Val at their sprawling ranch. Rumors and intrigue surround the couple: Eve left behind an itinerant life riding...

When Frankie's mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary - just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That's why she is not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket. Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other...

"In the summer of 1932, Americans are coming to realize that the financial crash of 1929 was only the beginning of hard times. May Marshall has returned from Paris to settle at her family home in rural Keswick, Virginia. She struggles to keep her family farm and market afloat through the economic downturn. May finds herself juggling her marriage with a tempting opportunity to revamp the family business to adapt to changing times. In a cold-water West...

"1930's Kansas, and the family Neva Shilling never expected to raise: her husband's other family" 1930's Kansas. Neva Shilling's husband travels to neighboring communities and sells items from his wagon. In his absence she runs the Shilling Mercantile, working to keep their business strong as the Depression takes its toll, and caring for their twins. Then a deputy delivers three young children-- Warren and his wife have died, and their last request...