MORE to BROWSE - Pages that might be of Interest

Friday, 1 August 2025

My Coffee Pot Book Club Guest: Unspoken by Jann Alexander



Welcome to my Blog!
Wander through worlds
real and fictional,
meet interesting people,
visit exciting places
and find good books
to enjoy along the way!




About the Book
Book Title: Unspoken
Series: The Dust Series
Author: Jann Alexander
Publication Date: July 3, 2025
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: Two deaths from dust pneumonia in first chapter, 1935; inhumane treatments in an asylum setting, pre-1950; maltreatment in a state home for children, pre-1945; a botched abortion where a woman nearly dies, 1940s


A farm devastated. A dream destroyed. A family scattered. 
And one Texas girl determined to salvage the wreckage.

Ruby Lee Becker can't breathe. It's 1935 in the heart of the Dust Bowl, and the Becker family has clung to its Texas Panhandle farm through six years of drought, dying crops, and dust storms. On Black Sunday, the biggest blackest storm of them all threatens ten-year-old Ruby with deadly dust pneumonia and requires a drastic choice —one her mother, Willa Mae, will forever regret.
To survive, Ruby is forced to leave the only place she's ever known. Far from home in Waco, and worried her mother has abandoned her, she's determined to get back.
Even after twelve years, Willa Mae still clings to memories of her daughter. Unable to reunite with Ruby, she's broken by their separation.
Through rollicking adventures and harrowing setbacks, the tenacious Ruby Lee embarks on her perilous quest for home —and faces her one unspoken fear.
Heart-wrenching and inspiring, the tale of Ruby Lee's dogged perseverance and Willa Mae's endless love for her daughter shines a light on women driven apart by disaster who bravely lean on one another, find comfort in remade families, and redefine what home means.


Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mqP7ke 

Book Funnel Link: 

Author’s Website:




Author Bio:

Jann Alexander writes characters who face down their fears. Her novels are as close-to-true as fiction can get.

Jann is the author of the historical novel, UNSPOKEN, set in the Texas Panhandle during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression eras, and her first book in The Dust Series. 

Jann writes on all things creative in her weekly blog, Pairings. She's a 20-year resident of central Texas and creator of the Vanishing Austin photography series. As a former art director for ad agencies and magazines in the D.C. area, and a painter, photographer, and art gallery owner, creativity is her practice and passion. 

Jann's  lifelong storytelling habit and her more recent zeal for Texas history merged to become the historical Dust Series. When she is not reading, writing, or creating, she bikes, hikes, skis, and kayaks. She lives in central Texas with her own personal Texan (and biggest fan), Karl, and their Texas mutt, Ruby. 

Jann always brakes for historical markers.


Author Links:

Facebook: 
Instagram: 
Bluesky: 
Pinterest: 
Book Bub: 
Book Bub for Unspoken: 
Amazon Author Page: 
Goodreads: 
Goodreads for Unspoken: 


read an excerpt

WILLA MAE

There are times my memories are so clear.

The odor of burning paper that accompanies a blue norther in March, with its low, blue-gray clouds stretching across the horizon

I can smell the acrid reek behind the glove factory where the smiths tanned the hides they hung and stripped. The smooth feel of the leather on the table where my sewing machine sat, as I fed it into the stitcher, the smell of it I came to love once it was tanned and dyed. The plum leather was my favorite of the ones I fanned out on my table, their edges revealing the warm sienna, the reddish rust, the rich chocolate brown, the deep black, the lovely pale cream color, all in a blend I would rearrange daily in a daydream until the foreman yelled at me.

The rumble of thunderheads massing north and northwest of Hartless that signals a dry norther

I hear the freight trains thundering past our little shack near the Rock Island tracks, where Beck found work after we married in 1921. The earthy smell of the cattle and their dissatisfaction sounding in low moans as the FW&DC train rocked past to Denver. How slippery the soapy water was when we paid a nickel to wash in the bathhouse tub.

The sky makes us feel as though we have no limits. It’s as endless as our promise

The sound of rain hammering the roof, soaking the tracts we’d buy from the land agent. The rainfall nearing thirty inches in 1923 alone.

All around us, wheat growing tall and strong, finally golden and ripe for the cutting. Combines crawling the vast fields. Bins overflowing with unending yields, prices steady, demand rising. Good harvests for the big wheat producers, better for the small farmers we’d become.

The look of pride on my husband’s face when he made his down payment and signed the deed at the bank for our section carved from the old XIT Ranch. How secure his hand felt, tucking mine inside his, as we walked out of the bank together, standing on the brick-paved street a moment, allowing our adjustment to our new status as landowners.

The way the Panhandle wind shifted our bountiful wheat crop lazily, gold and green waves shimmering in endless Texas sunshine, ours blending with everyone’s as far as the eye could see. Plentiful rains, as the land company promised, making for fertile fields

Beck coming home after a September morning of setting the winter wheat to eat his noonday supper, sitting down to my rabbit stew and the buttermilk biscuits I’d pulled hot from the oven. Ladling thick honey onto one, his eyes lighting up at the mingling of the sweet and warm. The way our humble dugout smelled from my home cooking and his sweaty earthiness. The feel of his rough finger, dunked straight into the honey pot and rubbed across my lips, our happy laughter, his insistence on kissing the honey from my lips.

The way we made our first baby

I knew then William would be a boy to name for the rambling father I had craved in my childhood, so willing to send me off with my new husband yet certain he’d never see me again. Daniel Wilhelm Eckhart, my father the geologist, ever exploring, mapping new terrain in search of oil, and leaving little to recall of our times together. Yet asking that one thing from me. Keep my name alive.

Those things are as vivid to me as the sharp chill of the ice baths they force me into each day, before the shock injections.

For my memory, they tell me.

 


Follow the tour:
Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn 
Instagram Handles: @jannalextx @thecoffeepotbookclub 

Hashtags: #Unspoken #HistoricalFiction #DustBowl #WomensFiction 
#BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub 

Tour Schedule Page: 


(note: Helen might not have read the featured title yet)


*** ***

scroll down to leave a comment

thank you!

*

Follow Helen On:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick

Bluesky: @HelenHollick - http://helenhollick.bsky.social/

Twitter: @HelenHollick 

*
You might also like books written by 
Helen Hollick 

*
NEW!
more to read

New release anthology
by various authors

*


*
The SEA WITCH VOYAGES
nautical adventures with a touch of supernatural
 set during the Golden Age of Piracy
If you enjoyed the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean movie,
you'll love these (much better!) seafaring voyages!

*
THE SAXON SERIES
The story of the events that led to
The Battle of Hastings in 1066

Harold the King (UK edition)
I Am The Chosen King (US edition)
AND
1066 Turned Upside Down
an anthology of 'What If'' 1066 tales


*
KING ARTHUR
The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
 The Boy Who became a Man:
Who became a King:
Who became a Legend... 

*
PLUS...
anthologies (which include award-winning authors)
and non-fiction


More Information:

*
my monthly ' essay' on an interesting topic
)

PLEASE: 

LEAVE A REVIEW 

FOR YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS ON AMAZON! 



Just a 4 or 5 star rating and a brief 

 "I thoroughly enjoyed this book!" will make such a difference!

THANK YOU!