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Face the Winter Naked: A Great Depression Novel Kindle Edition

by Bonnie Turner (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 696 ratings
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For fans of Steinbeck’s timeless classic, THE GRAPES OF WRATH


Daniel Tomelin, a battle-worn veteran with PTSD—haunted by the carnage of World War 1—deserts his wife and children in the Great Depression and becomes a hobo seeking work and relief from his nightmares.


This page-turning tale of courage is set in a tragic era in which hope was sometimes all they had and parallels today's economic turmoil and unemployment.


… "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us." (Herbert Hoover, accepting the Republican presidential nomination. Palo Alto, California, August 1928) …


It's a wife and mother providing for her children under miserable, heartbreaking circumstances, while her husband tramps around the country playing a banjo, searching for answers to the puzzle of Daniel Tomelin, keeping his hillbilly sense of humor, his humanity, his love of God and nature intact, while deep inside feeling ashamed and unworthy of the family he loves with all his heart.


Like scores of other men who abandoned their families during the Depression, Daniel's wounded pride for being unable to care for his wife and children prevents him from going home. . . .


And if her deserting husband has the guts to show his face again, his wife, LaDaisy—who finds the strength and means to provide for her fatherless children while fending off the advances of a man with the power to leave them homeless—may feel like killing him!


FACE THE WINTER NAKED provides an engrossing read in which Turner interweaves history, geography, and a compelling love story.


More than that, it is a story that looks beyond the surface, delving into the inner workings of the human mind, a powerful narrative that illuminates larger issues of humanity that are timeless and volatile and just as apropos today as decades ago:


- War


- Political strife


- Economic collapse


- Environmental catastrophe


- Division of families


- Cruelty and oppression


- Poverty, inequity, and all the faces of prejudice.


But it is also about love


and faith


and strength


and hope, forgiveness, and perseverance.


Readers may feel they are traveling with this simple carpenter through the Ozark hills of Missouri as he wears out his cardboard "Hoover" insoles searching for his next meal, an odd job that pays only pennies, or shelter from the dust and sweltering heat that summer of 1932.


But they'll be glad they're not.


____"FACE THE WINTER NAKED is a gorgeously written and evocative novel of an earlier economic crisis: the Great Depression. Readers looking for a stunning read, intelligent and emotional on every level, will not be disappointed." ~ Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of "Crazy Beautiful" and "The Education of Bet"

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  1. Print length
    316 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    February 21, 2010
  5. File size
    1664 KB
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0039IT0SS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aurorawolf Books (February 21, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 21, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1664 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 316 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 696 ratings

About the author

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Bonnie Turner

Bonnie Turner

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Bonnie Turner was born in Missouri and now lives and writes in Wisconsin. She learned to read in first grade from the famed "Dick and Jane" readers. Many years later, her first novel for children (The Haunted Igloo) was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1991.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
696 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Goat.Meister
5.0 out of 5 stars AN EFFECTIVE READ ABOUT A VERY CRITICAL ISSUE
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2013
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I give Facing the Winter Naked ---- FIVE STARS {plus}
{I read it ... and even with the incredible response to a 'one-star' rating from DeeDee Brown - since you do indicate you are "not wanting to read it" .... you will miss a message that to me was very redeeming.

Very few of us know the horrible terror of PTSD .... with the added blessing of an inability to find work .... with some added seasoning that the time-frame is during the greatest economic crisis ever. I believe the author depicted a gut-wrentching scenario that just may-well be around the corner for us here in 'modern' times.

Talk (I mean really talk and listen) to the young (or older) person with PTSD - honestly, try to find a job when there are absolutely none available - know you have a wife and family 'at home' that need you ... and can do nothing to stop the demons in your head. This young fellow with all of the issues ever present in his life did a wonderful job at survival and over-came what and how he could very effectively ... and I believe the author did an excellent portrayal of such an individual. If any of you that bother to read these reviews do disagree with me - then I wish you luck and God-speed when you are ever faced with any similar circumstance(s).

Simply put = the plot and the theme and the style mirror the message. I really do believe this book should have a wider audience - if there was any way I could to better promote the message of the book I sure would do what I can. There are way too many 3 and 2 and 1 star ratings - and I read them all. They all have the same thesis and again I say - you-all are missing the message.

Here is my response to on comment to one reviewer's one star rating.
= I read it ... and even with the incredible 'one-star' rating from DeeDee Brown - since you do indicate you are "not wanting to read it" .... you will miss a message that to me was very redeeming.
Very few of us know the horrible terror of PTSD with the added blessing of an inability to find work with some added seasoning that the time-frame is during the greatest economic crisis ever. I believe the author depicted a gut-wrentching scenario that just may-well be around the corner for us here in 'modern' times.

Talk (I mean really talk and listen) to the young (or older) person with PTSD - honestly, try to find a job when there are absolutely none available - know you have a wife and family 'at home' that need you ... and can do nothing to stop the demons in your head. This young fellow with all of the issues ever present in his life did a wonderful job at survival and over-came what and how he could very effectively ... and I believe the author did an excellent portrayal of such an individual. If any of you that bother to read these reviews do disagree with me - then I wish you luck and God-speed when you ever faced with any similar circumstance.
2 people found this helpful
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word addicted
4.0 out of 5 stars Depressed souls, depressed lives
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2011
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First of all, I have to say that I appreciated the lack of typos in this book. I believe it was painstakingly edited and proofed, and to me that is a sign of how much an author values his or her own work. Secondly, I felt the book captures the time period so clearly, it was like walking the streets during the Depression.
Book Summary: Daniel leaves his family due to struggles with PTSD and his inability to find a job. (This might make a reader less sympathetic to him.) He travels around like a vagrant, trying to earn a little money here and there. His wife carries the entire burden of providing for the family back home and her lot in life is not easy.
Analysis: I felt the character development in this book was first-rate. Sometimes readers will criticize character development based solely on whether or not they personally LIKE the character. I doubt many of them realize they are even doing it, but it's unfair to the author. There are a lot of characters in literature that are unsavory, unlikeable, or downright repugnant. It doesn't necessary mean they are not well-developed, however. I had no trouble picturing the characters in this book and grasping their mindset, even if I didn't agree with it. The tone of the book is in keeping with its subject material. The pace of the story was steady and kept me engaged. The writing was skilled, the shifting between POVs deft. I felt the author achieved just the right balance between expository writing and dialogue.
Conclusion: This is a well-written book by a talented author. I would definitely read more books by this writer. As a reader, if the author makes me care about the outcome, even when I don't agree with the characters' choices, I regard that as a successful plot. I am very impressed with this book.
47 people found this helpful
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M. Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! AUTHENTIC! Great Story! GORGEOUS WRITING!
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2013
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What a great read! There are some books that are so well-written, absorbing, evocative, authentic, visceral and, at times, heartbreaking that you can almost smell, taste, and feel what the characters are experiencing, This is one of those books, in spades! In terms of writing, this story was as authentic and moving and heartbreaking as John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" or "The Sun Also Rises", F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and, maybe I'd throw in Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind". I felt I was THERE on the battlefields of World War I with the soldiers, terrified and desperate men, in the war zone in Europe and, back at home, as ex-soldiers, struggling to find ways to survive by joining together in Washington, D.C., waiting for help from the government - the money they'd heard was promised to them - the "Bonus Army", (the "Occupy Movement" of their time), money that never came - not from President Hoover and the government - as they and their families camped out in tents, close to the White House, these men of the "Bonus Army", and the "hoboes" and "tramps" they'd become, riding the rails, seeking work in towns and cities, if they could get any work at all. The fear was palpable for when, where, and what their next meal would be, and the awful despair of the men, women and children stuck in cities and small towns across America, struggling to support and raise their kids and feed their families, however meager their incomes, looking for work in the cities and towns across America that had few jobs to offer.

They were the "99% vs. the 1% (or 0.1% or 0.01%) of that era. It's not that bad, now, in our era, but it's heading in that direction. "Face the Winter Naked" may be the cautionary tale for our time.

If the time and place in this novel interests you, you might want to read "Railroad Man" by Alle Wells and/or "The Gandy Dancer" by Jeff Andrews. They are two terrific books, especially "Railroad Man", which really captures and conveys a sense of what life, in that time and place - in the 1930's, for working class people, in the South, at time of changing life, work, and values for average families - men and women. My review of that book also referenced Steinbeck, et. al., as mentioned at the beginning of THIS review. I really felt I was THERE, in the moment, with the characters, dealing with their issues, in their times, as I was reading "Face the Winter Naked".
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Wendy Brouitt
5.0 out of 5 stars A heartbreaking story of surviving during the depression.
Reviewed in Canada on July 3, 2016
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Thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and the hardships and challenges they faced heartbreaking. Highly recommended.
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Radiomem.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story, good twists and with a sense of ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2015
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Excellent story ,good twists and with a sense of compassion and humour thrown in , I like a happy ending and not excessive violence.
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Larry McMillan
4.0 out of 5 stars It brings to life many aspects of what it was like surviving the "Great Depression"
Reviewed in Canada on June 29, 2015
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A very interesting read. It brings to life many aspects of what it was like surviving the "Great Depression". Families torn apart. Frustration of not being able to find work. Employers taking advantage of their employees because they knew there was no chance that they would quit. Violence and stealing, but there were also times when acts of kindness happened. And in the background there is the trauma he is still suffering from his wartime service more than a decade after it had ended. A powerful anti-war tale.
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mgtrse
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2015
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Enjoyed this book very well
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Lill
5.0 out of 5 stars briliant
Reviewed in Canada on November 1, 2013
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I liked the way the story moves along, great caracters too. What can I say Bonnie Turner is a great author.
One person found this helpful
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