How Do Unspoken's Themes Echo Today's Struggles?
- Jann Alexander
- Mar 21
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
"Jann Alexander's blazingly alive novel Unspoken asks how do we keep a family intact? Especially during a time of upheaval and betrayal in the 1930s Dust Bowl? Here, in a story told by both a mother and her daughter, two people struggle to both understand their world and each other."
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder
Upheaval, betrayal, family estrangement, families lost and found, homelessness, and poverty are the themes we wake up to in today's headlines. In the 1930s, the Texas Dust Bowl was no different.
Set in the Texas Panhandle during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era, UNSPOKEN is perfect for historical fiction lovers to devour, for Texans to uncover their hidden history, and for book clubs everywhere to dissect and discuss.
About UNSPOKEN
A DUST NOVEL BY JANN ALEXANDER
A Farm Devastated. A Dream Destroyed. A Family Scattered.
And One Texas Girl Determined to Salvage The Wreckage.
Ruby Lee Becker can’t breathe. It’s 1935 in the heart of the Dust Bowl and the Becker family has clung to its Texas Panhandle farm through six years of drought, dying crops, and dust storms. On Black Sunday, the biggest blackest storm of them all threatens ten-year-old Ruby with deadly dust pneumonia and requires a drastic choice—one her mother, Willa Mae, will forever regret.
To survive, Ruby’s forced to leave the only place she’s ever known. Far from home in Waco, and worried her mother’s abandoned her, she’s determined to get back.
Even after twelve years, Willa Mae still clings to memories of her daughter. Unable to reunite with Ruby, she’s broken by their separation.
Through rollicking adventures and harrowing setbacks, the tenacious Ruby Lee embarks on her perilous quest for home—and faces her one unspoken fear.
Heart-wrenching and inspiring, the tale of Ruby Lee’s dogged perseverance and Willa Mae’s endless love for her daughter is drawn from what countless Texas daughters and mothers endured in the 1930s and 1940s. UNSPOKEN shines a light on women driven apart by disaster who bravely lean on one another, find comfort in remade families, and redefine what home means.
For a 15% discount on Unspoken:
Preorder UNSPOKEN from Black Rose Writing with Code PREORDER2025
Preordered copies will process and ship on the release date, July 3.
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