Hold Autumn in Your Hand - (Zia Books) by George Sessions Perry (Paperback)

About the Book

Depression-era east Texas is the setting for this memorable story of a contract farmer determined to provide food for his family and hope for the future.

Book Synopsis

"The Texas January day was all blue and gold and barely crisp. Only the absence of leaves and sap, the presence of straggling bands of awkward crows, the gray-yellow flutter of field larks, and the broad, matter-of-fact hibernation of the earth said it was winter as Sam Tucker walked along the road, his long legs functioning automatically, farmerly. His body had about it the look of country dogs at the end of winter, when they are all ribs and leg muscles and jaw muscles and teeth. . . ."

Hold Autumn in Your Hand, is the memorable story of Sam Tucker and the year that he contracts to farm sixty-eight acres of San Pedro bottomland. He is eager to work the rich soil despite the fact that he will earn only six bits a day. Sam, his wife Nona, their two children, and one of the most irrepressible grandmothers in modern fiction absorb the reader in their joys and disappointments. The story is built around Sam Tucker's determination to use his knowledge of the land and hard work to provide food for his family and hope for the future.

Review Quotes

"A sound, sweet little story, a butternut of a novel . . . It's a miniature "Grapes of Wrath" seen through optimistic glasses."

A fine booka wholesome and heart-warming conbination of ventures and problems on the land, with a racy mixture of earthy humor.

Sam Tucker is a magnificent character, cheerful, hardworking, competent. . . . The story has true intimacy, nobility, and suspense, and it is written with considerable humor.