1935: The Dust Bowl and Great Depression are both in full swing. The drought and loss of food, money and hope have taken its toll on the deep south, particularly Oklahoma. The Dust Bowl Orphans tells the story of one African American family journeying west in hopes of more economic opportunity than what is left in their “blink and miss it” Oklahoma town. After loosing their eldest daughter in a tragic accident, their only son injured, and hopes all but lost, the Wilsons make an impossible decision. They leave their farm, their most valued family heirloom, to the Oklahoma black blizzards. The journey west is perilous, dangerous and long. Faith, their now eldest 15 year old daughter, tells the story from her point of view. We see her fight to save her younger sister, and survive to rebuild their family. Beautifully written tale of strength, resilience and family.

Present Day: Zoe is a museum curator who has just begun working on a new project. Through much research and albeit, unlikely coincidences, she stumbles upon a photograph with a girl that has an uncanny resemblance to herself. Zoe becomes obsessed with this picture, and devoted to unraveling the truth behind this old, long lost photo. As she digs deeper, she discovers a path that might finally connect a missing piece to her family tree and help her family heal from agony that occurred long ago.

I absolutely loved the tale of Faith and her trials and tribulations while journeying to the west. This piece of the storyline was written beautifully and truly touched my heart as I read through it. The heartache and struggle from this era was fully depicted throughout the entire novel. Along with its lasting effects that touch generations down the line. I was fully invested in Faith, their journey and the hope for a better future. Faith is a memorable character, as is her younger sister, Hope. We see Faith grow and develop from a haughty, hot tempered teenager, to a young women taking ownership of her family and doing everything possible to create a brighter tomorrow. Her character line developed very well.

Hope tended to add a touch of lightness to the storyline, with her innocence and bold personality. Her relationship with Faith was magnificently written. We don’t see quite as much growth from Hope, just because she was so young through the entire story. However, her child innocence was much needed to balance out some of the heaviness from the rest of the book.

The remaining characters in the 1935 era mainly fall into the secondary character category. Some were strong supports (Miss Viv, Mama, Dallas). Some were a bit contrived and far fetched, but nothing that took too much from the overall story.

The 1935 story arch earns a 4.2 out of 5 stars for me. Beautiful depiction of the loss and heartache suffered during this era.

The Present Day story line did not pull me in quite so much. I found myself not as invested in Zoe’s research or love life. Although, her present day struggles do touch on many relevant themes, I did not find them quite as engaging as the historical portion of the novel. Some pieces of Zoe’s love life seemed a bit outlandish and forced, and not necessarily needed for the overall goal of the novel. I also found a few of the events to help pull things together for Zoe related to the photo felt a bit contrived and forced. There were a few too many coincidences that conveniently fell into place during the final few chapters of her story.

I would have loved to see the Present Day timeline warped into an extended Epilogue. Telling the story of how Faith’s family line unfolded in a more concise manner, without having interrupted the historical portion of the novel with the Present Day details. I did find it interesting, how the events of 1935 could impact the following generations. There was value and merit to this side of novel, but it did not hold my intrigue as strongly as the historical timeline.

Overall, Suzette Harrison illustrated the era in a magnificent, heart-wrenching manner. Her writing style and choice of diction created a unique image specific to this period of time. I loved the premise and many of the primary characters. The novel would earn a 3.8 stars out of 5 from me!