Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 In the late September of 1929, America was about to plunge from a precipice. In less than a month, the Wall Street Stock Exchange would crash, plunging the country into the Great Depression. The working class of America would struggle and die by the thousands as the intermittently prosperous nation experienced its worst economic collapse. #2 Gert's father was a alcoholic, and her mother blamed Gert for all of his failings. But as Gert was her father's favorite, he did not hurt her. She had a happy childhood, even though she was not having a healthy one. #3 Gert's life was a living hell after her father died. She was treated worse than an animal at home, completely ignored by her mother, and carefully ostracized by her siblings to avoid any taint from associating with her. #4 Gert's social life was desolate for three more years in school, but when she was 14, she began dating. She was courted by a succession of men between two and eight years her senior, all of them pursuing her because of the sordid reputation she had developed about the town.