My parents grew up in rural Kansas during the American Depression. I’ve always been interested in understanding what they went through, as my family stories were limited. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down.

The Leora from this book was Kidney’s maternal grandmother, Leora Goff Wilson, who was born in 1890. She died in 1987. Leora chronicled these family stories through her own experiences and through her letters and journals. Kidney’s mother was able to give her own firsthand knowledge of various family events. From this rich family history, Kindey added her own research, including family photographs. This gives the reader a sense of the family.

The stories offer a stark reality of the times. Life in America hinged on the farm economy. During World War I, farmers were urged to buy more land, thinking there would be huge gains. But when the economy failed, most of the farmers lost everything. There were no jobs.

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Colleen M. Chesebro grew up in a large city in the Midwest. Keen on making her own way in the world, she joined the United States Air Force after graduation to tour the world and find herself. To this day, that search continues.

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.

In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on her blog on by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry.

Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

Here is Colleen’s Amazon Author Page. I’m grateful to her for this review.

There’s a new audio version of Leora’s Dexter Stories, narrated with “virtual voice.”