02/17/2026 Candace Reviews: DUST BOWL CHILDREN by Wile E. Young and Emily Young

Dust Bowl Children

By Wile E. Young and Emily Young

Synopsis:

Times are hard for folks and it’s even harder for siblings Calvin and Abigail Shepherd after the untimely death of their mother at the height of the Great Depression. With dust storms ravaging their home in Ross, Oklahoma, they wonder how they are going to make ends meet.

Already ostracized due to being children of an unwed and unusual mother, suspicion only grows when strange happenings begin to plague the town. Missing children, deformed animals, and strange deaths are only the beginning of this storm of the natural and supernatural.

As the dust blows, the Shepherd siblings find themselves stalked by an ancient evil that will stop at nothing to get what belongs to it, and that their mother might have had more secrets than they ever could’ve imagined in this dark retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

Review:

The dynamic duo of Emily and Wile E. Young have penned an incredible tale in their re-imagined story of Hansel and Gretel. Horror meets heart in a story set in the Great Depression as a pair of siblings come to terms with the death of their mother. With a raging dust storm setting siege to the entire town, a series of increasingly disturbing events begin to plague the siblings, leading them to a fight for their lives as they prepare to confront an ancient darkness.

The sibling relationship is well-defined as are the various other small-town relationships. I found myself immersed in Ross and the few families that were left there, struggling to survive as Abigail and Calvin unravel the very threads of their existence.

This story is expertly crafted, well-paced, and engaging as the authors set the tone for an ultimate face-off between good and evil. Tension kicks off on page one and does not let up until the final pulse-pounding scene.