Russell Working

One of Four Russell Working

The Great Depression was a powerful force that significantly altered the lives of everyone it touched. The effects were always pronounced and life-long. Destinies often were shifted. Through a collection of vignettes this autobiographical story of the first twenty-one years of a young boy's experiences, and those of his brothers, is told in the setting of those Depression years. The loss of their mother in a tragic death had a deeply emotional impact on the four sons. Out of the uncertainty and disorientation of a motherless home, these four boys, ages four months to eight years, eventually found them-selves under the care of an aunt who later became their stepmother in a home that had only a weekend father. The human chemistry in this family was fraught with conflict, confrontation, hope, lies, isolation, rejection, kindness, sex, deception, joy, avoidance, fun, withdrawal, greed, and pathos. It was in this setting that the four boys were able to find strength within and among them to cope and endure. This is a tragic story, a compassionate story, and, yes, a humorous story of four boys learning to "make lemonade out of lemons" in an environment where "providing for" was offered as a substitute for parental love.