Hitch Your Wagon to a Star

This biographical novel chronicles a woman's life from the 1920's through the 1960's, highlighting struggles caused by poverty, war, the Great Depression, insecurity, gender inequity, motherhood, and societal expectations. It continues into the Post War years of the "Red Scare" and the Baby Boom and culminates with a personal change that engenders a new focus and a second chance at life. Protagonist Melba Black is a strong-willed and resolute survivor. Her story exemplifies the truth that imaginings can become realities when dreams are cherished and maintained. At the age of seven, Melba's secret plans make daily life in a tiny, shabby oil-field shanty bearable. Her goals include rising above the embarrassing poverty that makes wearing mended hand-me-downs and Mama's worn-out shoes a fact of life. Competing with older brothers is her entertainment. At the age of twelve, the first of many life-changing events places Melba in a new town and a new oil-field shanty, but these first changes are depressingly disappointing. During the next four years, Melba will evolve into a woman, meet the love of her life, find a measure of peace, and realize that holding on to her dreams will require extraordinary effort and stoicism in the years ahead. America is in the midst of the Great Depression and on the brink of entering World War II; life is "on hold". Melba's eventual successes mirror what Henri Frederic Amiel described when he said, "Conquering any difficulty always gives a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty."