Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Road to Delano” by John DeSimone, Rare Bird Books, March 2020, for Suzy’s Approved Book Tours

Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Road to Delano” by John DeSimone, Rare Bird Books, March 2020 for Suzy Approved Book Tours

John DeSimone, author of “The Road to Delano” has written an intense, captivating and thought-provoking novel. The Genre for this novel is Historical Fiction. The timeline for this story starts in 1930 and continues during the grape growers strike in Delano. Cesar Chavez is trying to get better conditions for the workers. The author describes his characters as complex, and complicated. There are betrayals and problems keeping and following the law.

In 1930 Sugar Duncan drives down the “Road to Delano”, marries Shirley, and puts down roots, buys land and builds a home.Sugar and Shirley have a son Jack. Sugar has a knack of playing cards and farming. There is a tragic accident, Shirley is left to bring Jack up alone. Shirley is having financial trouble.

Jack is a wonderful baseball player as is his friend Adrian and hopes to get scholarships and go to college. Jack’s girlfriend Ella is an independent thinker and fights for what she believes in.

When Jack is bringing a piece of farm equipment to sell to help his mother, an old friend of his father stops him and gives him some information that changes everything that Jack had ever believed.

I appreciate that the author writes about a time when practices were unfair and unjust, and people were not treated equally.  The author also discusses progress and solutions through non-violence. John DeSimone has done tremendous research and he vividly writes and describes the characters and events. I would highly recommend this thought-provoking novel to readers who appreciate Historical Fiction.