"A Cup of Dust"

(A Novel of the Dust Bowl)

by Susie Finkbeiner

5+ stars 

Description

Where you come from isn't who you are.

Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriff’s family, they’ve got more than most in this dry, desolate place. They’re who the town turns to when there’s a crisis or a need―and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have packed up and moved on.

Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmother’s unshakable belief in a God who Pearl just isn’t sure she likes.

Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River. Eddie is dangerous and he seems fixated on Pearl. When he reveals why he’s really there and shares a shocking secret involving the whole town, dust won’t be the only thing darkening Pearl’s world. 




Purchase at the following locations:

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

http://www.christianbook.com

http://www.deepershopping.com

Biography

Susie Finkbeiner is a novelist and short story writer from West Michigan. Her first novel PAINT CHIPS released in 2013 and her second novel MY MOTHER'S CHAMOMILE in 2014. She worked with WhiteFire Publishing on both novels.

Her third novel A CUP OF DUST is set to release in 2015 with Kregel Publications.

Susie is a wife, mother of three, and avid reader. She enjoys time with her family, coffee dates with her good friends, and quiet moments to read and write.

Find her at www.susiefinkbeiner.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author-Susie-Finkbeiner-191087155015/timeline/

My Thoughts ~

Without a doubt, A Cup of Dust is one of the most captivating and impressive reality-based novels I have read to date. This is a story to be absorbed. Pearl's journey is thought-provoking and gripping, a heartrending and emotional journey through oppressive conditions caused by relentless, merciless dust. The author has researched her topic thoroughly, and weaves a haunting tale of Pearl's youth and the atrocities that she witnessed and experienced. The realities of the Oklahoma's Dust Bowl were oppressive and grievous.

Detailed and pictorial depictions revealed the enormity of the conditions in that area, where the earth was depleted and the rains never came. The dust ultimately took the lives of many, and caused others an unending fight for life. Pearl and her family exemplify the strength of the human spirit through events I can't imagine. Atrocities invaded Pearl's worst nightmares, as well as the barbarities that affected her youth and innocence. 

Character portrayals are described in depth with a familiarity and sensitivity that is tangible. I loved Pearl from the very beginning, and heard her voice throughout this extraordinarily touching novel.

A Cup of Dust is written with passion and eloquence, mature attributes of this young author. I will undoubtedly read it again. It is a novel of epic proportion. Thought provoking and intense, you'll want to slowly absorb Pearl's story. I couldn't begin reading another book until my mind finished processing the intensity of this composition.

FYI: There is some violence depicted in this book that may offend some readers; however, this is reality fiction and without those scenes the story would not be complete.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications in exchange for my honest review. All expressed opinions are my own, and no monetary compensation was received for this review.

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