Joseph P. Cody

Wild Violets - Growing Up in the 1940s and 50s Joseph P. Cody

WILD VIOLETS - GROWING UP IN THE 1940s AND 50s - It?s 1944 and the Second World War affects all of life. To a six year old living on a farm in central Minnesota the war is apparent from rationing. His dad sees it also in not being able to find a hired man sorely needed. One spring day that changes as an Indian walks into the farmyard as asks for work. It?s the moon of the deep water. The Indian works out well and he befriends the boy. However, the boy and his two-year-older brother discover the new hired man harbors a deep secret. As they wonder if they should say something about it, the family suffers a setback when the father falls and breaks his hip. Now, the hired man is needed to save the farm from foreclosure as the secret becomes ever more threatening. The story is rich in antidotal local color of the time as it moves to later years in first junior high and then senior high where the boy becomes friends with a girl and has his first brush with romance.