Daniel Tomelin, a shell-shocked
veteran haunted by the carnage of the First World War,
abandons his family in the Great Depression and goes
on the road in search of relief from his nightmares.
The life of a freight-hopping hobo appeals to him
more than he wants to admit, but he insists he’s
not a bum—he’s a family man, a carpenter, a
down-and-out victim of the Depression, whose war
flashbacks accompany him through the hills of
southern Missouri. Helped by his ingenuity and the
people he meets on the road, Daniel is able to feed
himself and even find a little work. Then, one night
awoken by a wildcat’s scream, he has a
premonition something is terribly wrong at home . . .
Face the Winter Naked is
compassionate, humorous, and warm, despite the
economic hardships of the era, and will appeal to
readers who enjoy tales of survival in the Great
Depression; stories of desperate men who couldn't
cope with the realities of war or financial ruin;
those who dearly loved their families but hadn't the
courage to stay and accept responsibility. The story
pulls the reader back to a tragic period in history,
where people learned to cope with poverty—or
perished. It is a story of hope for today’s
struggling economy and unemployed citizens.
PRAISE FOR THE
BOOK
"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
~
"Bonnie
Turner’s Face the Winter Naked is a
beautifully written tale of strength, hope, love, and
despair. Within the pages of this book, the era of
the Great Depression unfolds into sharply focused
reality, and the people who were impacted the most by
that time of financial desperation come to life. Ms.
Turner is an excellent storyteller, and I found
myself completely immersed in her narrative."
~BookWenches www.bookwenches.com
~
"Bonnie
Turner’s Face the Winter Naked is set
during the Great Depression, but her story
encompasses issues that reach far beyond that era and
know no time constraints—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.
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."
~Karen Donley-Hayes, M.A.I.S., author and editor
REVIEWS
Amazon.com Customer Review
"Face The Winter Naked is
a poignant tale of a family's plight during the Great
Depression. Plagued by traumatic memories of the
First World War, Daniel abandons his family, leaving
his wife LaDaisy to fend for herself and the children.
The narrative alternates between Daniel's life as a
hobo seeking work and LaDaisy's struggle to keep her
family alive while fighting off the advances of a man
with the power to leave her and her children homeless.
Turner's engaging writing tells their stories with
compassion and insight and vividly brings to life the
feel of the era. If you liked Water for Elephants,
this is one for you." (5/21/10 by MonK)
Biblio Buffet Review
"Face
the Winter Naked, Bonnie Turner, 1920s. A two-track
story about a WWI vet who hits the road during the
Great Depression in an attempt to make enough money
to send back to the wife he’s left behind to
take care of the homestead and the kids. This book
has echoes in our current economic plight and also
contains one of the finest-crafted scenes I’ve
ever read of a character keeping her head and acting
coolly while all around her is chaos. Still, while I
love Face the Winter Naked, I’d hate to face the
winter naked." (07-18-10 Lauren Baratz-Logsted,
author of The Twin's Daughter)
Midwest Book Review (Amazon.com)
The
great war tore apart lives, and the depression didn't
help. "Face the Winter Naked" is a novel of
two such situations, telling the story of Daniel
Tomelin, a traumatized World War I veteran and his
family. A story of the challenges of family and
facing tragedy and the constant challenges of
motherhood during these rough times, "Face the
Winter Naked" is a touching work of Depression
fiction, highly recommended. (5 stars. December
4, 2010, Midwest Book Review, Oregon, WI (USA)
Barbara
Weddle, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 4/22/1011
"Daniel
wasn't good for anything except making babies,"
Vera said. "He made another one, then took off,
leaving you to give birth and care for four children
alone."
With these words, Vera, Daniel Tomelin's outspoken
and critical mother-in-law, states what many who read
Turner's novel may perceive as an obvious truth. But
those having lived through the Great Depression and
so understand the desperate and even irresponsible
measures a man might be driven to, will possibly see
the behavior of Turner's male protagonist as normal,
inevitable even.
Bonnie Turner's FACE THE WINTER NAKED is a vivid but
ultimately tragic story of desperation and adversity.
In a time when many men, no longer able to face the
helplessness of watching their families go without,
humble but prideful Daniel, his sanity threatened by
memories of trench warfare and fallen comrades and
shamed by his inability to provide for his family,
leaves Independence, Missouri, in 1932. For more than
a year he drifts about the country on foot and by
rail, living the life of a hobo in search of work and
the families of his fallen comrades.
Meanwhile,
his wife, LaDaisy—full of pride herself and
loyal to Daniel—refuses help from her mother and
is left to manage at home any way she can, often
stooping to desperate measures to feed, house and
clothe the children Daniel left behind, while at the
same time fending off the advances of her sister's
terrorizing husband.
As Daniel traverses the country trying to get "a
few more coins to fatten his purse" so that he
can return home, he meets others like himself, men
crushed of spirit and purpose and dignity. Like
George, who's on his way home to die and is "just
too tired to put up with myself anymore." There's
also Walter and Chester, angry, disgruntled men
Daniel meets at a veterans' march in Washington D.C.,
men willing to fight to get the bonuses due them from
the government.
Just as LaDaisy, driven beyond her ability to cope
any longer with her desperate circumstances, snaps
and lashes out, bringing hers and the lives of all
those around her crashing down, Daniel's year-long
journey comes to an abrupt end when he picks up a
month-old newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, and
reads of a disastrous event at home.
FACE THE WINTER NAKED, though a story of hardship and
suffering, is also one of resiliency, courage,
loyalty and, ultimately, forgiveness, and Turner, in
blending factual history with one man's odyssey, is
definitely a woman who has a story to tell and the
ability to tell it.
~
Review from "Poppet" | Review at Goodreads.com
FTWN
book trailer
Featured at
Publishers Weekly Blog
~
Cover
design by Jacques Stenvert
Johannesburg, South Africa
http://stenvert.co.za/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in
Missouri in 1932, Bonnie Turner experienced firsthand
the poverty and heartbreak of the Depression years. A
proud survivor of the era, she now resides in
Wisconsin—and still speaks fluent hillbilly with
a southern drawl. She has published children's
fiction; this is her first adult novel.
Bonnie—Age 3
Buy the book here:
Lulu.com | Kindle
Edition | Smashwords
Barnes
& Noble | Amazon.com
