What a wonderful surprise this book was. The story centres on young Winona Williams and her family in the 1920s, trying to escape life in the yards of Chicago to follow her father’s dream of farming in Texas, and the struggles they face in their new home. I found it completely absorbing from the first page and couldn’t put it down.

All the characters are fully developed and realistic, from her dreamy father who tries so hard to make it work, her poor mother who looks back on her freedom and opportunities during the First World War and despises life on a farm, to the farm owner they work with and who becomes a member of the family. There is so much history packed into this book (life in poverty both in the cities and country, the depression, orphans packed onto trains from New York for a new life, the push for women’s rights, among others) that it really shouldn’t work as well as it does. It feels as though so much is pushed in there that it will hold back the story but it never does, they all fit together seamlessly and add to the power of the book. The most compelling parts for me were around life in the Dust Bowl - the author makes you really feel how horrific it must have been to live with sand everywhere, drought, terrifying dust storms, and the devastating effect on crops and income.

Winona (or Nona, as she’s known to the family) is a superb character. She follows everything she can find on Amelia Earhart and dreams of being a pilot despite the restrictions on women at the time, but she’s also so committed to life on the farm and doing all she can to help through some terrible trials. Her strength and resilience in the face of any obstacle are gripping and I would love to see a follow up about her life as an adult. She has all the makings of a classic child character and this book deserves to be well known and widely read.

I really can’t recommend this book highly enough. I’m going straight back to read it a second time – I read it very quickly the first time because I was desperate to find out what was going to happen so now I want to go back and savour it a little more slowly. An amazing book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review. I've added this review to Goodreads, Waterstones and Amazon.