It’s a pleasure to be hosting the first stop on the blog tour for The Dust Bowl Orphans by Suzette D. Harrison which is published today. My thanks to Sarah Hardy for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Bookouture for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Robin at Robin Loves Reading, Bookstagrammer booksreadbyprairiegirl and Carla at Carla Loves To Read.
About the Book
The dust cloud rolls in from nowhere, stinging our eyes and muddling our senses. I reach for my baby sister and pull her small body close to me. When the sky clears, we are alone on an empty road with no clue which way to go…
Oklahoma, 1935. Fifteen-year-old Faith Wilson takes her little sister Hope’s hand. In worn-down shoes, they walk through the choking heat of the Dust Bowl towards a new life in California. But when a storm blows in, the girls are separated from their parents. How will they survive in a place where just the colour of their skin puts them in terrible danger?
Starving and forced to sleep on the streets, Faith thinks a room in a small boarding house will keep her sister safe. But the glare in the landlady’s eye as Faith leaves in search of their parents has her wondering if she’s made a dangerous mistake. Who is this woman, and what does she want with sweet little Hope? Trapped, will the sisters ever find their way back to their family?
California, present day. Reeling from her divorce and grieving the child she lost, Zoe Edwards feels completely alone in the world. Throwing herself into work cataloguing old photos for an exhibition, she sees an image of a teenage girl who looks exactly like her, and a shiver grips her. Could this girl be a long-lost relation, someone to finally explain the holes in Zoe’s family history? Diving into the secrets in her past, Zoe unravels this young girl’s heartbreaking story of bravery and sacrifice. But will anything prepare her for the truth about who she is…?
Format: Paperback (360 pages) Publisher: Bookouture
Publication date: 7th February 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction
Find The Dust Bowl Orphans on Goodreads
Purchase links
Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme
My Review
Although the fact that people of colour have faced discrimination over the centuries is well-known, through the story of Faith and her sister the author really brings to life their actual day to day experience in 1930s America: segregation, racial prejudice and discrimination enshrined in law. The book also introduced me to the ecological disaster of soil erosion, drought and intense dust storms that ‘turned daytime skies into midnight’ leaving families like the Wilsons as ‘farmers without produce or product’, forced to migrate West in search of a better life.
Narrated partly from the point of view of Faith starting in 1935 and Zoe in the present day, I particularly loved the voice the author created for Faith and the power of her story. Her sense of responsibility for her young sister, Hope, and the sacrifices she was prepared to make for her were truly heartbreaking even when she was at her wits end, alone in a strange city. ‘I was all Hope had and couldn’t afford to go crazy. I needed all my good sense to keep us safe, and to face whatever came next on this tempestuous journey.’ I admired Faith’s strength of spirit in steadfastly clinging to the belief that she will be reunited with her parents and brother. Faith’s later blossoming as she is able to fulfil her natural talent, made possible through an act of charity, is wonderful to witness.
Although I found myself less engaged with Zoe’s story, I enjoyed the way parallels between the two women’s lives begin to emerge. One of these is their mixed experiences of men. In Zoe’s case, there’s a stark contrast between the behaviour of her estranged husband, Vince, and the man she meets who not only exhibits the tenderness and compassion Zoe needs to heal but provides an important clue in her search for her family’s history. And although Faith is cruelly treated by a man who takes advantage of her desperate situation, she also encounters another man whose actions more truthfully reflect Christian teachings.
I loved following the story of Faith and Hope and the book’s heartwarming conclusion that illustrates the importance and healing nature of family bonds.
In three words: Powerful, authentic, emotional
Try something similar: The Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D. Harrison
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About the Author
Suzette D. Harrison, a native Californian and the middle of three daughters, grew up in a home where reading was required, not requested. Her literary “career” began in junior high school with the publishing of her poetry. While Mrs. Harrison pays homage to Alex Haley, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison as legends who inspired her creativity, it was Dr. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that unleashed her writing. The award-winning author of Taffy is a wife and mother who holds a culinary degree in Pastry & Baking. Mrs. Harrison is currently cooking up her next novel…in between batches of cupcakes.
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What Cathy Read Next... 
Sounds very powerful. Thanks.
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This sounds like a must for my TBR. It is interesting that in dual time line books the reader is often more engaged with the section that takes place in the past. Is it because that is the period that really captured the imagination of the author? Or is it that the present is just the launching pad? (Maybe those are the same thing.) I really like this genre when done well but sometimes you wonder why the author didn’t just write a historical novel.
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Absolutely, I really think there has to be a reason for a dual timeline, i.e. the story won’t make sense without it. A thing I notice as well is authors using first person/present tense for the earlier timeline and third person/past tense for the later…
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