Depression Era Historical Fiction

It's a boring, hardscrabble life for three sisters growing up on a Michigan farm in the throes of the Great Depression. But when young Nellie, digging for pirate treasure, discovers the tiny blue-black hand of a dead baby, rumors begin to fly. Narrated by Nellie and her two older sisters, the story follows the girls as they encounter a patchwork of threatening circumstances and take it upon themselves to solve the mystery.

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 has hit Annie Mae Thompkins' family, and prize money from the county fair could really help them. But when Jonathan Mercer's pig destroys her quilt entry, she hunts for another prize to chase. A beauty pageant may be the ticket, until she learns Jonathan is a judge. Can these two set aside their differences and find the true prize of love?

WW II has ended, yet the extreme woes of wounded and mentally traumatized soldiers abound throughout the world. Teramo, Italy 1945Forty-two year old Sarah Puglia had been forced to remain in England during the horrors of WW II with her British family the Bentley's; due to it being extremely unsafe for a British subject to venture back into Italy which is where she calls home with Lorenzo her Italian husband. During the six excruciatingly long years apart, Sarah's husband had been conscripted to be a foot soldier against his will to fight for the Italian Army. In the final year of the war, ...

Artie Call can’t get a break. Orphaned during the Great Depression, Artie finds himself leading a life of crime, stealing food, and hanging with the wrong people to survive. When his mischief lands him in juvenile court, a fellow church goer takes him in. But the trials and tribulations don’t end there. After enduring unkind and unyielding treatment at home, Artie is sent back to juvenile hall. Down on his luck and with nowhere to go, Artie falls back into old patterns. Until Mary Wilkerson, a feisty widow, sees potential in Artie and takes him in. Ray McCandless, the wise yet firm ...

"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 ...

She was the last person to see him alive. Hannah Granville knew there would never be answers to her questions. How could Father commit suicide, leaving his wife and children destitute? Did he have any inkling of their fate? How did she fail to understand his intention? Could she have saved him? Was he a coward? Too busy making a living to spend time in the past, Hannah is virtually alone in the world. Her siblings have been taken in by relatives across the country; her mother, too frail and distraught to care for herself much less her children. The only thing getting Hannah through most ...

It’s 1931, tens of thousands have been evicted from their homes, breadlines are blocks long, Hoovervilles are everywhere, and over 200,000 children are homeless. Brianna Quinn, whose husband was killed in a board racing accident and now has her destitute in-laws, Edward and Francis, living with her, keeps the wolf from her door by being a cat burglar. When she learns that Edward’s brother, Brody, an accountant and courier for the private and secretive Whitter Bank, went missing while delivering 500 double eagles to a bank patron, she decides to find out what happened to him. Her fence, ...

In a chance conversation, Brianna, part time cat burglar striving to survive during the Depression, learns of a mysterious 18th century map hidden on a farm in New Hampshire. The farm is owned by Hannibal Jackson, a man of color, who was chased off it by the Ku Klux Klan. The map is cryptic, so Brianna arranges a meeting with Jackson at the Liberty Bell Diner, where she learns the cryptic lettering on the map refers to five thousand of something, perhaps something valuable. Brianna and Martha, a gun for hire, go to the farm to look for the map. They park in a nearby woods, sneak onto ...