Brief Summary

In A Chosen Few, Carolyn Booth continues her saga of the Ryan and McBryde families between the rivers in eastern North Carolina where they face a bleak future brought on by the Great Depression. When Franklin Roosevelt is elected in 1932, his New Deal programs hold great promise for young farmers like Len Ryan who has married Millie McBryde hoping to qualify for Penderlea Homesteads, a farm city in Pender County developed by Wilmington entrepreneur Hugh MacRae. Hundreds of applications are received for the small ten-acre farms. Competition is fierce.

Only the most capable young farmers-those with the greatest potential-will be chosen to purchase a homestead in this utopian subsistence community that includes a picture-perfect cottage, outbuildings and livestock for only sixty dollars a year. When the government assumes control of the project, MacRae takes a back seat and the project continues under FDR's Resettlement Administration. Emily McAllister from Onslow County, a character from the earlier books in the series, emerges as chairwoman of the Penderlea Homesteads Applications Committee. Her daughter, Jeanne, who ran off with Emily's fiancé in Bandeaux Creek, comes home begging forgiveness only to become involved surreptitiously in the lives of the homesteaders, mainly Len Ryan.

Other characters who reappear are Maggie Lorena and Tate Ryan, Will Ryan, and a child who some think is the late Davy McBryde's boy. Once again, readers will find a story that is both historical and engaging, with fictional and true-life characters. New in this book is a genealogy chart to aid in identifying characters in all three books in the series: Between the Rivers, Bandeaux Creek, and A Chosen Few.

Click to order