Rising Above It: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Survival

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES AND TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS OF NEW POSTS AND BOOKS BY EMAIL.

Rising Above It: A Novel of Love, Loss, and Survival

How will Hattie Barton rise above it, when she loses everything on the day of the Stock market crash of October 24, 1929?

Rising Above It A Novel of Love, Loss, and Survival

Hattie Barton’s life changes forever on October 24, 1929, the historic day of the New York Stock Market crash. She is suddenly forced to leave her palatial home in Calhoun, relocate to an apartment in her hometown in Greenville, and find work to support herself, her two young daughters Pauline and Alice, and her trusted housekeeper, Georgia.

When she takes a job as secretary in a small insurance firm, a potential romance develops between Hattie and her boss, Seth Snoddy However, an unexpected turn causes her to reevaluate whether she can ever settle for a marriage of convenience.

Hattie learns that the only way she will rise above her misfortune is to remain true to herself. It is this insight that empowers her to regain her hope in the future and move on. As she does, new possibilities arrive in the form of a letter from her first love, Will Kendrick.

The fourth book in the Barton Family Series, Rising Above It, continues the theme of love and reconciliation running through the previous novels.

STUDY GUIDE

Study Questions

  1. After reading Rising Above It, what do you think about the symbolism on the cover of the book? Is it effective?
  2. Did the ending of Chapter 2, The Ride Home, surprise you? What was your reaction?
  3. Does the following quote about “funeral behavior” ring true to you? Why or why not? “She shot her husband a glance that clearly communicated her dissatisfaction at being made to wait, but she must have realized that Libby had witnessed it too, and she immediately rearranged her face into the appropriate funeral expression–serious but not somber, pleasant but not jovial.”
  4. Who was your favorite character in Rising Above It?
  5. Which of the characters do you identify with most?
  6. Do you agree or disagree with Georgia’s response to Hattie when she wouldn’t mention Charles’s name? “You don’t know what really happened, so you gone to making things up. But I guess thas’ just human nature. We feel like we have to explain everything, and sometimes there just ain’t no explanation.”
  7. How did Rising Above It help you understand life during the early years of the Great Depression?
  8. What did you think about the ending? Was it satisfying?