by Rilla Askew
First published 2007
Harlan Singer appears in the Thompson family's yard one morning, harmonica in hand. His music captivates the family, and his charm wins over their fourteen-year-old daughter Sharon. The newlyweds hit the road as hobos during the Great Depression, hitchhiking and riding freight trains across the Great Plains. Harlan searches for an old man to settle a debt he has carried for years. They sleep in hobo camps and Hoovervilles, tracing a giant figure eight pattern with Oklahoma at the center. Sharon begins to question her husband's mission as they travel the 1930s landscape. Her doubts trigger a chain of events that transforms Harlan into a hero, but she remains blind to the dark truth behind his journey. This tale follows the people John Steinbeck's Joads left behind in Oklahoma. Askew draws from local folk heroes to tell the story of a wayfaring orphan seeking home. The novel captures the strength of people who keep faith in the land despite endless hardship.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, quest
Setting: Great Plains, Oklahoma, Hoovervilles
Period: Great Depression, 1930s
256 pages · Hardcover · University of Oklahoma Press