A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there...

Describes the plight of the migrant workers who traveled from the Dust Bowl to California during the Depression and were forced to live in a federal labor camp and discusses the school that was built for their children.

2 CHILDREN FOR SALE The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs and broken dreams. It could have been written by any mother facing impossible choices. For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences...

Gloria is one of the 700,000 Spanish people who have left Spain since the economic crisis started. The film portraits the experience of intra-European exiles tackled by Spain’s highest-profile female director, Icíar Bollaín (Even the Rain, Take My Eyes). Gloria is a 32 year old native of Almería Spain. A teacher without a posting, and a shop assistant in an Edinburgh store for the past two years. Gloria has set up a collective with the motto...

When Arlen Wagner, who can see impending death in people's eyes, warns fellow rail passengers that the train is going to crash, only Paul Brickhall heeds his warning, but the two end up stranded at The Cypress House, an isolated Gulf Coast boarding house.

Tired of doing chores and longing for adventure during the Great Depression, Kit meets a hobo and decides to hop a freight train.

A ladies' quilting club in Kansas is invaded by a new member with ambitions. She is Rita, a big city girl who wants to be a journalist. When a member's husband is murdered and Rita begins probing, the group must band together to keep safe the club's secrets.

"Beatrice Carraway has dreams. Although she's aged out of the childhood pageant circuit, she's intent on carrying her talents all the way to the big screen--if only she can escape the poverty of West Dallas first. But as the Great Depression drags the working class further and further under, Beatrice struggles just to keep herself, her mother, and her younger sister afloat. After a string of failed auditions, she feels defeated. And then in walks...

In Toronto, Izabel, Bebeth, Natasha, Benoît, Grace and Jean, members of Ontario’s “working poor” directly affected by the economic crisis, agree to take part in group sessions organized by filmmaker Geoff Bowie. They talk about having to work multiple jobs to get by, describe the stress generated by financial vulnerability, and courageously explain their strategies for getting out of their difficult situation. Touching, insightful and full...

Three city siblings, now living on a farm during the Great Depression, must survive on their own when their father takes a construction job miles away.