Depression Historical Fiction

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?

One girl yearning to prove herself. Another desperate to escape pain. A dog trying to save them both. Penny Brighton despises being treated like a baby. Now that Papa is sending her to Alaska to stay with her uncle during the waning days of the Great Depression, she's thrilled by the chance to prove she's strong and capable. But her excitement turns to dread when she reaches Juneau and there's no one to meet her. Refusing to panic, she follows a deaf bull terrier to a boarding house and agrees to wash dishes in exchange for room and board while searching for her uncle. But when she meets ...

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 ...

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, ...

Journey with a horseback librarian into the hidden crevices of Kentucky mountains. Feel her pain as she struggles not only to barely make ends meet, but as she also attempts to connect the pieces of her own life while her mom continues to make selfish decisions. Lena Davis is the daughter her mom never wanted. But she survived. Through stories. Because books didn’t judge. Books weren’t angry she was alive. Books never expected her to be anything but who she was.

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 ...