'Heart Land' is a fictional memoir of a bright and reckless boy growing up in rural Ohio in 1939, at the close of the Depression and before America's entrance into World War II. Sleepy farming community, Ockley Green, is a place where a kid with an active imagination is as likely to try to convince his younger brother that monsters do live under their beds as he is to learn from the men who gather at the local diner to talk crops and politics. In this Norman-Rockwell-type world, Oliver creates mischief, makes mistakes, and learns about taking responsibility -- important lessons in the making of a man. Instruction begins when Bodacious Scurvy, the town's notorious alley cat, crosses Oliver's path and gives him an idea. Author Caroline Miller has a painterly eye for details and imbues her storytelling with fire side warmth. 'Heart Land' is a novel full of heart and humor and full bodied characters.