Loosely biographical and historically on the mark, A Vagabond's Journey by Melanie Eve Miller is a powerful tale of one boy's ingenuity and will to survive during the Great Depression. Finely and tightly wrought, this is historical fiction at its finest. It is an epic tale that chronicles the youthful escapades of Erling Madsen, the quirky, toe-headed youngest son of Danish immigrants in Duluth, Minnesota who, after the premature death of his mother, is sent by his overbearing father to live with a string of well-intentioned relatives. Shuffled among the whole extended lot before finally ending up back under his father's roof with his two older brothers, Erling never feels as if he belongs or is wanted. When the stock market crash of 1929 leaves his father scrambling for a new beginning, the family relocates to San Antonio, Texas only to learn that life in the US is truly tough all over, and that Erling's own will to survive is indomitable.

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