A powerful and moving piece from Chanel Cleeton who is quickly becoming a new favorite author after reading a few of her works.
This is set in the early- late 30's in which we have three lively women that are truly ferocious and yet doomed by their circumstances yet manage to take one day at a time in overcoming their adversities and propelling them forward.
Regardless of where you stand in politics this novel touched briefly upon the Bonus Army and their march of 1932.
If you're wondering like I was if the Bonus Army ever got paid who fought in WWI the money owed to them for each day they served overseas in the amount of $1.75 per day and $1.00 for each day they served in the United States the answer was yes but not till 1945 with certificates redeemable for 1k each via Congress.
The Bonus Marchers (20k veterans) who were unemployed and desperate went to DC to protest and demand the passage of the bill that was introduced by Rep. Wright Patman for immediate disbursement.
This book had me feeling all sorts of emotions from feeling trapped in an abusive marriage as we had seen with Helen and Tom to the aftermath of being hooked up with a pre-arranged marriage with Mirta and Anthony Corduro to the trials and tribulations held by Elizabeth and Sam.
This was a time of great uncertainty with the depression and here we add to that mix a major hurricane that devastated the land and those involved in its path.
These three stories couldn't be more different and I was curious to see how Chanel would reel this baby in and bring them all together.
The end result was one of uncertainty yet perseverance in going after what you want, what you need, and what you deserve to have.
Of course, the question of how does one get closure was a constant reminder...
In Helen's case she dreamt of Tom's passing as she couldn't bare the abuse yet ironically his fate was tied in the end to another individual -which was a real shocker- especially learning of his status as missing or presumed dead after the weather related event.
Mirta's situation was dark and dreary and I truly felt she'd never find the comfort and solice she deserved yet she faired pretty well.
What of the 'fear of the unknown?'
Well, you can imagine some of the characters were suffering from their own personal reflections and the author truly did a magnificent job at showing the Karma train arriving and departing often for a one way trip.
Elizabeth and Sam was another quite intriguing piece of this three part character development because she was injured in the storm surge but that didn't stop her from dreaming big.
Sometimes it's ironic how things play out if you give them time.
In this case the story resolves itself in a way that I'd never thought possible.
"There's so much broken around us maybe all we can do is try to fix each other."
Truth be told there's plenty of pain today but we have to hold on to hope, to faith, to fate, and to each other. Humanity is not the enemy.
There's plenty of twist and turns here so be prepared to be blown away but it's so darn enjoyable especially the ending that was just superb.
Thank you to Bibliotheca for this e-read in exchange for this honest review.
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