Julia's Hope, Samuel and Julia Wortham and their two children charmed readers as they found shelter in the home-and heart-of a grandmotherly woman named Emma Graham. Now, in Emma's Gift, the Wortham family is struck down by the deaths of two close friends, including their neighbor Wilametta Hammond, just days before Christmas 1931. Wila is the mother of ten children and the glue that holds the family together. In his grief, her husband, George, ignores...

Jeb is torn between putting corn bread on his own table and defending the people who need him most, Jeb must look deep within to f ind his way.

"It's 1935, and ever since the big crash and her father's subsequent suicide, Henrietta Von Harmon has been left with the job of caring for her antagonistic mother and seven younger siblings. In desperation, Henrietta finally agrees to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall. Just as she's beginning to enjoy herself, however, the floor matron suddenly turns up dead. When the aloof Inspector Howard appears on the scene to investigate, he...

"For the love of love... and books. Mattie Mobley planned to be a teacher, but when times grew tough during America's Great Depression, and there were no teaching positions in her hometown of Asheville, NC, Mattie found work starting a school and helping the Pack Horse Librarians just over the mountains in the rural town of Certain, Kentucky. She's not certain at all that this is a good situation, but she's determined, and honestly, a little desperate....

A bad moon at the end of 1929 ushers in a year of changes and turmoil for the people of Shiloh, Arkansas, and faith is the only thing that keeps them going.

"'Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say.' From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is a friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her...

Ida Early, who keeps house for the Sutton family in rural Georgia during the Depression, becomes the unwitting target of the children's matchmaking schemes during the holiday season.

In the early 1930s the Burnside boys do their best to make ends meet and help their sister, Alison, fulfil her destiny. Alison's growing love for a teacher finally puts her career in jeopardy and brings her into conflict with her family and herself.

Midway through the Depression, Petey Williamson's father is one of the few who still has a job, but when he finally gets fired, the family experiences the reality of growing poverty, as Petey's cousin Steve becomes a union organizer while Steve's father continues to battle any attempt at unionization among his own workers.