Dust
Haldeman-Julius Haldeman-Julius
Hardcover
(Forgotten Books, Feb. 14, 2019)
<i>Dust</i> is a novel co-authored by the husband and wife duo of Emanuel and Marcet Haldeman-Julius. The two were prolific authors of essays, newspaper articles, short stories and novels, and often based their writings on the communist and atheist principles they shared.<i>Dust</i> is the story of the Wade family, a group of Kansas farmers struggling to get by in the face of harsh conditions and personal tragedy. The story takes place over the course of three generations, but rarely leaves the Kansas farm that we are introduced to in the opening chapter. The authors lived on a farm in Girard, Kansas, which lends an air of authenticity to the writing. Many of the details and characters feel almost autobiographical as a result. This is a heartbreaking story that sees very little go right for the central characters. At around 250 pages and presented in large font, <i>Dust</i> is a relatively short novel. The plot progresses rapidly, and the authors manage to tell the story of three generations in a relatively short amount of space. Character development is perhaps compromised as a result of the narrative focus, and thus many of the characters we meet do not evolve a great deal. While this may be viewed as a weakness of the novel, it seems a deliberate choice of Emanuel and Marcet Haldeman-Julius.<i>Dust</i> is a tragic novel about the difficulties of rural life in the Midwestern United States. It is a book representative of the style of the husband and wife authors, and is a worthwhile read for anybody interested in a novel infused with atheist and communist values.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.