Face the Winter Naked: A Novel of the Great Depression by Bonnie Turner

(Posted for Ann Roberts)

This book was set in Missouri, and once again, great title.  I was all set to be hypercritical of this book until I read Rivers Last Longer.  This is actually a rather sweet story of a Missouri family during the Great Depression. Daniel Tomelin, a veteran of World War I, leaves his wife and children in Independence to ostensibly look for work at a time when there is little work to be found.  Through the telling of the story, we learn that Daniel is looking for more than work.  He is trying to escape from the horrors of war that still haunt him, the pain that poverty is causing his family, and the uncertainty of the future.  While some of the plot seems contrived and not entirely necessary, the characters are for the most part, fully realized and believable… and that title?  Fantastic!

Paperback, 283 pages