Anneville

A Memoir of the Great Depression

by Thomas G. Robinson


Formats

Softcover
£12.49
£8.10
Softcover
£8.10

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 09/04/2009

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 6x9
Page Count : 244
ISBN : 9781438970080

About the Book

Anneville is the true story of a prosperous, middle class family who were suddenly plunged into abject poverty by the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing economic catastrophe. The father, overwhelmed by despair abandons his wife and seven children to fend for themselves. "Thos" Robinson, who was not quite five years old when The Great Depression struck, provides us with an eye witness account of his family’s struggle for physical, psychological, and spiritual survival. Robinson tells his inspirational tale with a minimum of self pity, sentiment and nostalgia; and a surprising amount of beauty, and a happy helping of comic relief.

The memoir covers the years 1931–1936. Robinson says that these years were the most important and formative of his life. He says, “It was as though I was tempered and hammered into steel on the anvil of Anneville.”

(Anneville is a pseudonym that he uses in deference to those townspeople who might be offended by the stern picture he draws of the actual town where he spent his boyhood.)

Thos is the narrator of this book, but it is his siblings and his mother who are the kind of fascinating, loveable, and unique characters who compel readers to keep turning the pages of a good book like Anneville.


About the Author

After serving a hitch in the Navy, Thomas G. Robinson moved with his family in September, 1945 to San Diego, California where he was employed for a while as an electrician. In May, 1948 he was hired by the City of San Diego as an electronics technician where he worked for 13 years. During those years he attended night school at San Diego City college and San Diego State University finally graduating in 1959 from SDSU with a BA in English. In 1962 he finished work on his high school teaching credential. Then he worked 26 years teaching English language, literature, and composition at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, California. After his retirement in 1988 he began working on a novel. He published The Rainbow's Hand in 2001. After its publication he began working on his memoir of The Great Depression Anneville. He now resides in San Diego with his wife of 52 years, Sally Patricia. Much of his time now is spent trying to be a good father to his daughter Alana, and a good grandfather to his grandson, Tommy and his granddaughter, Erin. He still continues to write and if The Good Lord grants him the time he will try to finish another book.