by Janet Peery
First published 2008
Etta and Mackie Spoon grow up on a failing farm in 1930s Oklahoma as dust storms ravage the land. Etta burns with rebellion and unpredictable moods. Mackie retreats into shyness, always living in her sister's shadow. Both girls carry secrets about their family that weigh on them like the oppressive heat. The sisters know their world intimately: the cracked earth, the failed crops, the violence that simmers beneath the surface of rural life. When disaster finally strikes their household, everything changes. The girls must leave the only home they have ever known. They set out together across the barren landscape, searching for something better than the harsh existence they are fleeing. The journey will test both sisters as they navigate a world that offers little mercy to young women on their own. Peery follows Etta and Mackie as they discover what they are willing to sacrifice for freedom and what bonds can survive when everything familiar falls away.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate
Tropes: found-family, sisters
Setting: Oklahoma
Period: 1930s
306 pages · Paperback · Picador