Where you come from isnt who you are Ten-year-old Pearl Spence is a daydreamer, playing make-believe to escape life in Oklahomas Dust Bowl in 1935. The Spences have their share of misfortune, but as the sheriffs family, theyve got more than most in this dry, desolate place. Theyre who the town turns to when theres a crisis or a need--and during these desperate times, there are plenty of both, even if half the town stands empty as people have packed up and moved on. Pearl is proud of her loving, strong family, though she often wearies of tracking down her mentally impaired older sister or wrestling with her grandmothers unshakable belief in a God who Pearl just isnt sure she likes. Then a mysterious man bent on revenge tramps into her town of Red River. Ernie DuPre is dangerous and he seems fixated on Pearl. When he reveals why hes really there and shares a shocking secret involving the whole town, dust wont be the only thing darkening Pearls world. While the tone is suspenseful and often poignant, the subtle humor of Pearls voice keeps A Cup of Dust from becoming heavy-handed. Finkbeiner deftly paints a story of a family unit coming together despite fractures of distress threatening to pull them apart.