After reading Sean Dietrich’s memoir I just had to read this novel and I wasn’t disappointed. He wove these stories of the people during the Depression into a piece of art, that left me in tears and at times laughing out loud, but always rooting for them to press on. In the beginning you are introduced to friends and migrant workers Paul, Vern, and their dog Lou who is a tracking hound. When they find a baby in the woods, and can’t find who she belongs to, they end up with a new member of their family. When they come across a destitute mother traveling with her children their family grows again. Then there is Coot a young evangelist working for a abusive con man doing tent revivals. Another wonderful character is Marigold who has lost her baby and almost her life only to be given a gift, or curse, of healing others. There are more intriguing characters each with their own stories. The book is in 3 parts, the chapters are short, so you keep turning the pages to find out more about their imperfect lives and as I said before rooting for them. I read this through my library, but I may have to buy one to share. ( )

I truly needed this book... Refreshing and lovely. Thank you, Sean Dietrich! ( )

Excellent story. Wonderful characters. I did really enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more by Dietrich. ( )

Well the author definitely has a way with words, but I think this story would have worked better as 4 short stories with they last story used to tie all the characters and events together. Just my opinion, but some of the characters Coot specifically were really hard to care about as he was not very bright ever in the book. ( )

In spite of the fact that some pretty awful things happen to a number of the protagonists in this episodic novel, it darn near qualified as a comfort read for me. Life can be hard, but there's no use taking the tragic view. Sometimes little miracles happen. A child evangelist gets "saved" from that life; a blended family including an old black man, an old white man, a seemingly abandoned baby and a destitute dying mother with two young children and not a hope in the world find life is bearable if they all stick together; a starving teenager who is part empath, part faith healer and 100% skeptic saves a few lives, and improves a few more. None of these people know each other, yet we expect that their paths will eventually cross--why else would we be following them all through their trials? We hop from one set of characters to another, with significant passage of time between sections. Boys become men, a baby girl becomes a lovely young woman...we only see parts of their journey. What may have happened to Marigold while we were working the tobacco fields with Paul, Vern and their adopted brood, we don't always know. Coot's escape from E. P. Willard's clutches is engineered by a guardian angel whose future we never learn. Yet nothing about the narrative feels fractured, or choppy. We come to know each of these people well, and love them, as it is clear the author does. There's a subtle Christianity running through the tale, without a hint of preachiness, hypocrisy or saccharine. In fact, the thread that connects the story lines together until they ultimately merge is the presence on the radio of a nationally known evangelist whose revivals draw huge crowds. It is suggested that this man, unlike the other hucksters and abusers on the circuit who claim to be offering salvation to the masses, may be acting in good faith. The novel owes a debt to Steinbeck, Fannie Flagg, and Joe David Brown, but it has its own legs. Entirely engaging. ( )