First published 2013
Tike and Ella May Hamlin wake each morning in their rickety wooden shack, dust seeping through every crack. The Texas Panhandle stretches endlessly around them, baked hard by drought and scoured by relentless winds. Tike dreams of building an adobe house from the earth itself, a solid refuge that could withstand the brutal storms and blazing heat. He has studied a government pamphlet that shows him how to construct walls from clay and sand, creating a dwelling both fireproof and windproof. But the young couple works land they will never own. Banking interests and cattle ranchers control their fate, making Tike's adobe house seem like an impossible fantasy. As Ella May tends their meager crops and Tike struggles against forces beyond his control, they cling to each other and to their shared vision of a better life. Their love sustains them through hardship, but the corrupt system surrounding them threatens to crush their dreams of putting down real roots in this unforgiving landscape.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: against-all-odds, dreams-vs-reality, perseverance
Setting: Texas Panhandle
Period: Great Depression
288 pages · Hardcover · Harper