by Karen Hesse
First published 2004
Billie Jo once found joy at the piano keys, her fingers dancing across melodies that lifted her spirits above the endless dust storms plaguing her family's Oklahoma farm. Then a devastating accident changed everything. Her mother died. Her hands bear painful scars that make playing piano agony. Her father retreats into silence, unable to speak about what happened. The dust keeps coming, burying crops and dreams alike. Every day brings new storms that coat everything in grit and despair. The family farm withers along with neighboring spreads. Billie Jo watches her world crumble while nursing wounds that go deeper than burned skin. She faces an impossible choice between staying in this broken place with her broken father or finding the courage to leave everything behind. The piano that once brought comfort now mocks her damaged hands. Yet somewhere beneath the grief and dust, Billie Jo must decide whether healing means holding on or letting go.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, healing, resilience
Setting: Oklahoma
Period: 20th-century
235 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press