#REVIEW #NEWRELEASE "I Will Send Rain, a novel" by Rae Meadows

Description:

A luminous, tenderly rendered novel of a woman fighting for her family's survival in the early years of the Dust Bowl; from the acclaimed and award-winning Rae Meadows.

Annie Bell can't escape the dust. It's in her hair, covering the windowsills, coating the animals in the barn, in the corners of her children's dry, cracked lips. It's 1934 and the Bell farm in Mulehead, Oklahoma is struggling as the earliest storms of The Dust Bowl descend. All around them the wheat harvests are drying out and people are packing up their belongings as storms lay waste to the Great Plains. As the Bells wait for the rains to come, Annie and each member of her family are pulled in different directions. Annie's fragile young son, Fred, suffers from dust pneumonia; her headstrong daughter, Birdie, flush with first love, is choosing a dangerous path out of Mulehead; and Samuel, her husband, is plagued by disturbing dreams of rain.

As Annie, desperate for an escape of her own, flirts with the affections of an unlikely admirer, she must choose who she is going to become. With her warm storytelling and beautiful prose, Rae Meadows brings to life an unforgettable family that faces hardship with rare grit and determination. Rich in detail and epic in scope, I Will Send Rain is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, filled with hope, morality, and love.

MY TAKE:

5 STARS!!!

When I saw this book was available for review at NetGalley, a fictional book based about a family and others and how they survived the dust storms in the great american dust bowl, I HAD to read this! I was really hoping to read this book because I really wanted to learn more about how people survived life through it all. I have always been intrigued how the people in the southern great plains ever survived living through the dust storms of the 1930’s. This was a time my history classes back in school greatly lacked covering. I only recall them teaching us that “one” terrible dust storm took over the southern great plains when in reality it was many. I was taught so wrong! Dust storms were so common for the people that they started getting a knack for surviving them, except at times when the children would be so busy playing, they would not always notice the dark clouds that slowly crept in and they would get hit the worst. I always wondered how could you breathe through all that grit and dirt? You could not, and neither could your farm animals. Farm animals? Whoa! I never gave ANY thought about them! This was getting worse and worse the more I read this book and learned. This book covered things that affected families, one in particular, and how they survived these storms that essentially were greatly helped along by our farming and changing the ways they farmed. This took time, too, so it was not an overnight cure. I did some looking up of images during these times, and it was not uncommon to see home buried half-way up with sand! Take a look! It’s amazing! Imagine trying to get back into that house again with ALL the dirt and sand around your home! Unbelievable! When I learn about things such as this, it made me want to dig further and learn even more about it! I wanted to know how did the people survive through the days, inhaling so much sand/dust? I wondered how people survived through the storms, how many storms were there, how it affected things that remained outside, things like cars which were still pretty new then. This was one great book to learn from, and this author’s writing was very enjoyable! She made the characters, even though they did live some same ‘ole, same ‘ole dreadful days, had full lives! I loved the characters!

Highly recommended!

I received this book for FREE from the Publisher, Henry Holt and Company, and NetGalley, in exchange that I read then write a review about this book/what I read. "Free" means I was provided with ZERO MONIES to do so, but to just enjoy the sheer pleasure of reading this book and then writing an honest review about what I thought about this book, regardless if my opinion is positive or negative. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the law set here: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html

The Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, 16 CFR 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising Federal Acquisition Regulation.

ebook: $12.99
print:   $17.77