Betty Richards
Dr. Swinson and his wife Dandy are living a peaceful life on their farm in Ardis Heights, a small farming community in northeast Texas. Their lives take a sudden and drastic turn when the stock market crash of 1929 is followed by the Great Depression. Four of their grown children and their families are forced to flee to the farm when jobs, homes, and most of their belongings are striped away. The house which was large for the two of them is stuffed to the seams as eight adults and five children seek refuge.
Each individual has his and her own story of how they came to be here and their way of dealing with a trying situation. What makes it an almost impossible one is Dandy who plays favorites, is extremely judgemental, doesn't like her in-laws and takes out her frustrations on any and all, except her precious daughter.
Papa (Dr. Swinson), who has problems of his own, tries to handle Dandy and keep the peace while jealousies, alcohol, an affair, and the troubled marriages and general unhappiness of his grown children play havoc with his life.
Played out against the backdrop of a small Texas town still caught in the prejudices of the Civil War and the United States in deep crisis as thousands of its citizens wander homeless and hungry around the country, the Swinson family learns to live with loss, fear, betrayal and finally acceptance, hope and forgiveness. Their story is an excavation of the human spirit and its ability to survive.
Betty Richards was born four months before the Stock Market crash and lived her first years in the midst of the Great Depression. She now lives in Wichita, Kansas with her husband of fifty-five years and her dog, Dilly. She is the mother of four, grandmother of seventeen, a painter, turned jewelry designer who finds joy in writing. This is her first novel.
Perspiration rolled down Valera's forehead and stung her eyes. The smell of rain in the air gave her hope of some relief from this unbearable heat. What a day to be stuck in the kitchen with Dandy. Inez and Evelyn were at the big table out on the sun porch peeling and slicing peaches. She'd like to know why she had been the one chosen to help Dandy in the kitchen. Just her bad luck--as if she ever had any other kind. She thought Dandy probably chose her so she'd have more opportunity to pick on her.
"Valera, did you boil those fruit jars out good?" Dandy asked.
"Yes,Ma'am, I did, Mrs. Swinson." Valera picked the pan of hot parafin off the stove and started to pour it into the tops of the fruit jars that sat in a line along the long linoleum topped cabinet.
"Make sure you seal those good." Dandy said, lining up another row of peach filled jars as she removed them from the canner. "They'll spoil if you don't seal them good."
"Yes, Mrs. Swinson. I know." Valera said through clinched teeth.
After her stay in bed and then her week of silence, it seemed Dandy was more determined than ever to make all those present sorry they were here. And Valera was convinced Dandy was taking out her frustrations more and more on her daughters-in-law and on her in particular.
She not only felt sorry for herself but for Dr. Swinson as well. The reason for Dandy's strange behavior was no longer a mystery. The family had found out about him burning Dandy's new dresses. An old army cot that had been stored in the garage was now in Dandy's bedroom. No one dared to ask, but it was assumed it was for him. Valera's heart went out to him as he drug around the house like a convict under a death sentence.
"Poor Dr. Swinson," Valera muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" Dandy asked, not able to make out what Valera was mumbling.
"Nothing." Valera answered. "Nothing at all."
