Giver of Stars

Fiction by JoJo Moyes.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story follows an English girl who marries a rich American man to escape her stifling family. Then he takes her to a backwoods town in Depression-era Kentucky instead of the exciting American city she had envisioned, and turns out to be just as repressive as her parents in his own way. 

I enjoyed this story and the characters a lot. 

I also read recently by this author: After You

Sold on a Monday

Fiction by Kristina McMorris.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story was inspired by a real picture, apparently from the Great Depression, of a family of children sitting on a porch with a "Children For Sale" sign.

image from https://rarehistoricalphotos.com

This is an intriguing idea, but this story is not about this photograph. For one thing, the picture in question is dated 1948 and not from the Great Depression at all. And the real kids in this photo did not come to happy ends.

Instead the author begins with a fictionalized version of the picture and moves the setting to 1931. The story centers on the reporter who took the picture instead of the family, and the reader can expect a positive ending. That's the beauty of fiction!

The end result is a good-enough story, but not quite what I expected from the title and the cover. It took me a bit to get interested in, but the ending was good.

Prayers for Sale

Fiction by Sandra Dallas.


https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I thought this book had an odd title, because who would sell prayers? It doesn't really mean that though; it's explained on the story that at one point the main character says she's so happy that it seems like all her prayers are answered and so her husband puts up a sign for a joke that says, "Prayers for Sale."

Anyways, this is a really good character story about a mining town during the depression where a very old widow and a very young wife become friends.

Shiloh Autumn

Fiction by Bodie Thoene and Brock Thoene.


image from amazon.com
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Set in the Depression era, this was an interesting story based on the author's own family history. The characters were good and I enjoyed it.

A Room of My Own

Fiction by Ann Tatlock.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good story, about a girl growing up during the Depression.

Lila

Fiction by Marilynne Robinson.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is the story of a girl who grew up homeless before and during the Depression era (back when people weren't called "homeless," but rather "hobos" or "bums") with a woman who loved her but wasn't her mother. With this upbringing, Lila is almost a wild thing, having never really been tamed to live indoors. One day, however, loneliness drives her to tie herself to a life in a house.

Intertwined with the story of Lila are a lot of unanswerable questions about human suffering and isolation. This is not a light story, although it is a short book. It gives you something to think about.

Some Luck

Fiction by Jane Smiley

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This novel follows an Iowa farming family through the years 1920-1953. It's a great set of  portraits of several diverse characters, even including some convincing bits from the points of view of babies and children, which is unusual.

It's a really good "family-saga" type of book.

Snow in Summer

Youth Fiction by Jane Yolen.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Interesting retelling of the Snow White story, set in Depression-era Appalachia.

I also read recently by this author: Curse of the Thirteenth Fey

Angel Sister

Fiction by Ann H. Gabhart.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good book, a nice uplifting Depression-era story. I liked it.