The Great Depression tested families across America in profound ways. In her new novel, author Michelle Fenney brings this era to life through the story of a schoolteacher, her husband, and their adopted daughter as they confront economic upheaval, illness, mental health struggles, and questions of identity. Ultimately, the family learns that home is not defined by where you live, but by the people who stand by you.

Join us as Michelle Fenney shares insights into the inspiration, research, and writing behind her compelling new book.

Presenter Bio:

Michele M. Feeney is an award-winning writer, lawyer, teacher, wife, and mother of five. She divides her time between Arizona and Michigan, where her family still owns part of a Christmas tree farm homesteaded by her ancestors in 1850. After spending twenty years raising children, working, and writing whenever she could, Michele earned her MFA in fiction and nonfiction from Bennington College in 2022. Additionally, Michele has attended the Bear River Writing Conference, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, and has served as Assistant Editor for Narrative Magazine since 2017

Her creative work is rooted in the untold histories of rural families, women’s resilience, and the everyday courage required to endure hardship. Her debut novel, Like Family (2024), was inspired by a story passed down from her grandmother and imagines how one small Michigan community weathered the influenza epidemic of 1918. Like Home, the second novel in the Like Family Series, follows the Crowley-Reid family into the Great Depression, exploring motherhood, illness, mental health, identity, and the struggle to keep a home, and a sense of belonging, alive. She is currently at work on additional fiction, including a third novel, and short stories, and a memoir about her friendship with a young man incarcerated in the Arizona Department of Corrections.