The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

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Set during the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath opens with the return of Tom Joad, the protagonist, to his family in Oklahoma after being paroled from prison. He has served a sentence for manslaughter after killing a man who attacked him with a knife, and he has been released on licence due to his good behaviour as a convict. What he comes back to, however, is the family home and farm that has been abandoned. The downward spiral of failed crops, the Dust Bowl phenomenon, and the economic crash, has resulted in many small farming families like the Joads losing their land to the banks, leading to a mass migration; many of them heading west to California after they are misled into believing that there is plenty of work there for them.

I am Writing: A Supernatural Thriller

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Things have been going ridiculously well with the writing of this new book! I am now in the process of developing the main characters. I began with Detective Clayton, the lead investigator for the police. In the manuscript there are several references already to his wife, who is a successful lawyer and makes a lot more money than he does. I wanted to write a scene in which she becomes a real character and the nature of their relationship is illustrated. It started well, but then went down a path that I was not expecting