The Suitcases: Three Orphaned Sisters In The Great Depression in The South

Washington, DC: Acropolis Books LTD, 1982. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Very good in good dust jacket. Inscribed by the author. Small edge tears to DJ, and large tears at DJ flaps.. Thompson, Richard. 184 p. Illustrations. Foreword by Charles Kuralt. The moving, true story of three sisters who were placed in an orphanage (Thompson Orphanage in Charlotte, NC) and foster homes after the death of their mother in the 1930s. "On the death of their mother, the three little girls--at ages five, six, and almost eight--are taken from their father to become wards of the state. With the cardboard suitcases given them by the social worker, they are moved from Catholic Home to orphanage to foster homes, waiting for their father to come and claim them. But they realize at last this will not happen and the hope that had sustained them turns to grief and anger. Betty, the oldest, is their uncomplaining leader. Carolyn is the youngest, tiny and doll-like. Anne is the middle sister, striking out whenever she thinks that she or the others have been wronged. It is Anne who tells the story. The suitcases are the anchors in their lives....The story moves in time, not distance, from the Depression through the 1940 war years, into and beyond the 1960s. The locale is the North Carolina Piedmont and later the mountains of the Blue Ridge. "