Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she...

"In 1934, the country is in the stranglehold of drought and economic depression. Ella Barron runs her Texas boardinghouse with an efficiency that ensures her life will be kept in balance. She also cares for her ten-year-old son, Solly, a challenging child whose misunderstood behavior finds Ella on the receiving end of pity, derision, and suspicion. David Rainwater arrives at the house looking for lodging but Ella senses that admitting him will bring...

When a rainmaker is bludgeoned to death in the pitch-blackness of a colossal dust storm, small-town sheriff Temple Jennings shoulders yet another burden in the hard times of the 1930s Dust Bowl.--

Where you come from isn't who you are. Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff's family, they've got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They're who the town turns to when there's a crisis or a need - and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have...

Ten-year-old Mexican American Rosa Sanchez wants an education more than anything, but when her teachers leave Texas in search of a better life, how will her dream come true?

"Pearl Spence has been through more in her young life than most folks could handle. But through it all, her family has been by her side. They may not be perfect, but they love her and they all love each other, come what may. That's one thing Pearl no longer questions. But the end of her beautiful day signals the beginning of the end of her secure life. Now her family is fleeing their Oklahoma wasteland. Pearl isn't sure she'll ever see home or happiness...

With a touch of magic and a harvest of hope, a young orphan and her exceptional elephant set out to change the destiny of a dying town, devastated by a decade of dust storms, proving that from the smallest seeds, grow the greatest friendships.

A twelve-year-old girl keeps a journal of her family's and friends' difficult experiences in the Texas panhandle, part of the "Dust Bowl," during the Great Depression. Includes a historical note about life in America in 1935.