Harvest of Hope

About the Book

In an effort to escape the oppression of his older brother, Johnny, a farm boy growing up during the Great Depression, disappears into the night.  He hops a freight train heading west with only an address he has ripped from a bag of seed corn in his pocket, and his meager savings hidden in his sock.  After tasting life in the hobo jungles, he finds employment on a farm in the mid-West.

When the love of his life leaves for college, he decides to return home to finish his own education.  Though welcomed warmly by his family, he becomes guilt ridden upon the discovery of the tragedies his disappearance brought about.  As a young adult, Johnny assumes responsibility for his family and becomes first a mentor, then a pal to his young neighbor.

The story is colored by mystery, romance, and anxiety, as the Great Depression dissipates and the country is thrown into World War II.  Johnny’s fiancee and his young neighbor both enlist in the armed services.  Actual letters from the war front confirm the loneliness and despair of those separated from their loved ones, and their eagerness at war’s end to leave the memories of the battlefields behind, pick up where they left off, and start new families.

About the Author

Lively interest in the way things were prompts Louise Chave to skillfully weave tales of bygone days into fascinating fiction. First-person interviews producing articles depicting rural life in the twenties, thirties, and forties have met with enthusiasm by readers of related magazines. While Harvest of Hope is a first novel, several of her essays have appeared in anthologies published by Boyle Center Writer’s Group. Ms. Chave has done extensive research into her family’s genealogy, collecting numerous old photos and bits of history in so doing. She and her husband are parents of seven grown children and currently live with a menagerie of pets on a country place near Sennett, in Central New York State.