"Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she...

From Paulette Jiles, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Enemy Women, comes a poignant and unforgettable story of hardship, sacrifice, and strength in a tragic time-and of a desperate dream born of an undying faith in the arrival of a better day Oil is king of East Texas during the darkest years of the Great Depression. The Stoddard girls-responsible Mayme, whip-smart tomboy Jeanine, and bookish Bea-know no life but an itinerant one,...

It's 1937. Naomi Vargas is Mexican American. Wash Fuller is Black. These teens know the town's divisive racism-- and the potential consequences of defying "the rules"-- better than anyone. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. Can their love survive both prejudice and tragedy? Race, romance, family-- and the real-life New London school explosion-- converge in this riveting...

Football is the heartbeat of Brownwood, Texas, but when World War II breaks out, there is no one to coach. Principal Tylene Wilson defies social conventions to lead the team.