Bleak, haunting and atmospheric, this multi-generational family saga is a compelling read. German Jon Julius Hess arrives with his wife in Iowa in 1892 and establishes a homestead there. They go on to have 6 children, but family life is complicated and often fraught. It’s a hardscrabble life, not helped by the suspicion the family faces during WWI, and Jon Julius’s self-imposed isolation. When the two youngest girls run away, the ramifications are deep and long-lasting. The complicated bonds between the siblings lead to evasions, secrets and lies, and the reader pieces together the facts gradually as the narrative progresses. Shifting voices and perspectives make it a multi-layered and engaging novel, one which I very much enjoyed, and which will long remain with me.

Did not finish this book as it just couldn't keep my attention. Possibly just wrong book at the wrong time but more likely wrong book for this reader.

A very interesting book about a dysfunctional family in the 1920s. The family did seem to evolve over time and change and become better as time passed and they recovered from all the losses they experienced.