Description
The author investigates letters from strangers who responded to his grandfather's request for descriptions of their hardships in exchange for cash, learning about his grandfather's past and the sufferings of various families during the Depression.
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"A wonderful reminder that economic hardship can bring suffering but can also foster compassion and community." -The Boston Globe In hard economic times like these, readers will find bestselling author Ted Gup's unique book uplifting as well as captivating. Inside a suitcase kept in his mother's attic, Gup discovered letters written to his grandfather in response to an ad placed in a Canton, Ohio, newspaper in 1933 that offered cash to seventy-five families facing a devastating Christmas. The author travels coast to coast to unveil the lives behind the letters, describing a range of hardships and recreating in his research the hopes and suffering of Depression-era Americans, even as he uncovers the secret life led by the grandfather he thought he knew.
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