Whose Names are Unknown

For fans of Steinbeck, Willa Cather and Harper Lee - a powerful rediscovered writer of Dustbowl America

'Sanora Babb, with quiet humour, and a great all-encompassing love for a land and her people, has created a warm hearth indeed in this book. I hold my hands out to it to be warmed' Ray Bradbury'Thought-provoking description of the mystery, wonder and poetry of growing up in a pioneering environment. A vivid restoration of an important phase of American history' Ralph Ellison'In my years of researching the lost historical stories of resilient women, few have resonated with meas much as Sanora Babb. A journalist and writer, she was a true trailblazer and a woman who deservesto be remembered for her contributions to both literature and history'Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds and The WomenSanora Babb's long-lost novel is a powerfully moving vision of struggle and hope in Dust Bowl America that stands alongside the The Grapes of Wrath. On the vast, empty plains of Oklahoma, the Dunne family scratch out a hard living from the land. In their cramped one-room dugout, Milt, Julia, their two daughters and Milt's father, Konkie, share a life of hardship and hunger, but also one of fleeting hope and private dreams. Forced by the droughts and dust storms of the 1930s to abandon their farm, the Dunnes and their neighbours join the exodus to California, where they encounter not a promised land but discrimination, disillusionment - and the redemptive power of community. Based on Babb's first-hand experience, Whose Names Are Unknown is a heartbreaking masterpiece by a trailblazing rediscovered voice.