Letters from Hillside Farm

During the Great Depression, families were uprooted as millions lost their jobs. The fictional Struckmeyer family was one such family. After father Struckmeyer looses his factory job in Cleveland, the family borrows some money from Grandma so they can rent a farm in Wisconsin and buy animals and equipment.

Told through the correspondence between the young narrator George Struckmeyer and his grandmother, Letters from Hillside Farm provides a glimpse into the day-to-day lives of those who lived through the difficult 1930s. Infusing the real-life stories that make up history with personal experience, Jerry Apps details George’s discovery of rural life and the realities of tough times.

Dear Grandma,

This morning . . . our telephone rang. . . . We are on a party-line, which means that several people in our neighborhood are all connected to the same . . . line and the only way you know when to answer the telephone is when you hear your own special ring. Our ring is a long ring and three short rings.

After Ma answered the phone, she turned to Pa and said it was a call for him. As he listened, a big grin spread across his face. Then he said thank you, hung up the receiver, and asked if I’d like to ride into town with him. . . . He was still grinning.

Jerry Apps writes novels and nonfiction about the outdoors and rural living. He received the 2008 First Place Nature Writing Award from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association and the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.