First published 2006
The Beecham family loads their belongings into a battered truck and joins the stream of migrants heading west to California. Rose Beecham watches the Oklahoma dust disappear behind them as her father drives toward promises of work in the orchards and fields. But California proves harder than the family imagined. The labor camps overflow with desperate families like theirs. Work pays little when it comes at all. Rose sees her parents grow thin and worried while her younger siblings ask questions she cannot answer. The family moves from camp to camp, following the crops and seasons. Rose learns to pick fruit fast enough to earn her keep. She makes friends who vanish when their families move on. Through the long days in the fields and the uncertain nights in crowded camps, Rose holds onto her dreams of school and stability. The Beechams face a choice between the familiar hardship they know and the unknown possibilities that might lie ahead.
Genres: family-life, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, fish-out-of-water
Setting: California, Oklahoma
Period: Great Depression
82 pages · Paperback · IndyPublish