“A warrior believes in an end she can’t see and fights for it. A warrior never gives up. A warrior fights for those weaker than herself. It sounds like motherhood to me.”

This novel focuses on Elsa Martinelli and her family as they struggle to keep their farm going in 1934 Texas. It’s the dust bowl era of the great depression with drought throughout the great plains. As the years pass and crops continue to fail, neighbors and friends go to California and find work but the Martinellis do not want to abandon their farm.

Eventually Elsa and her two children do venture to California, although the results are not what they expected. This is a heart wrenching tale of a family’s struggle to stay together and survive. The courage, love and sacrifice of Elsa Martinelli is the heart of this novel.