Katie

by Margaret Graham

Katie, a bittersweet novel about growing up during the Depression, is also a story of survival.

When Katie's father abandons his family on a backwoods flat, the McLeods search for ways to survive: shelling pecans and packing sausage for sale in town, shooting rabbits, and catching fish at Bull Creek.

But this heartwarming story recounts another sort of survival too - the survival of a young girl's soul. Katie must learn to cope without her father, yet every day she watches and waits for him to return.

It isn't until later, after Katie has wonderfully fallen in love, that she learns the awful truth...

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Margaret Graham is a bestselling author and has been writing for 30 years. Margaret's novels have been published in the UK, Europe and the USA. Margaret has written two plays, co-researched a television documentary - which grew out of Canopy of Silence, and has written numerous short stories and features.

Reviews

[Kate (lkatemm on Storygraph)]

I read this book many times as a child and have major emotional imprints from it. I got the sudden urge to reread it this month and ordered an old copy. There is so much I didn't remember (a whole huge section in the end about Bible college!) or couldn't imagine as a kid, for example what Texas brush country looked like, so it was a very different experience this go round. There is a lot to pull at the heartstrings on the re-read with a father who goes missing, a struggling single mother in the Depression, and the process of growing up in general for Katie and her siblings under those conditions. I can see at lot more of the religiosity now, although it was certainly there all along, and I think Margaret Graham might have written several specifically Christian books. There's also the gut punch of seeing racial slurs casually written on a few occasions, which is disturbing and why I won't rate it and wouldn't really recommend it, especially for kids.

[KT Eugene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I return to the story of little Katie McLeod every so often, and have since I was a child. The book was given to me because she and I shared the same name. Every time I read it, I find something new to love. I will say that Becky can be infuriatingly tragic at times, but she did what needed to be done by a woman at that time struggling to raise six children all on her lonesome. Story has it that this book was semi-autobiographical, which is remarkable as you can go and see some of the places discussed. Bull Creek, Katie's beloved Texas home, is now a gigantic park in the middle of Austin, TX; a city that, during her time, was so far distant it took multiple hours to get to and from.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, entitled: Katie, by Margaret Graham, was written in 1981. The story begins in the Depression era, continues through WWII. It is a fiction story about the struggles of one family after losing everything and how they survived fueled by love and faith in Jesus. A touching, heartwarming story.

I enjoyed this book.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book lent to me by my mom. A compelling story of a young girl's life magnificently told. I was so taken with her character and her struggles and the whole family dynamic.