Deflowering Julia — John Wells

If you love a farce, this book's your sweetheart.  During the hard scrapple times of the Great Depression of 1938, a powerful widow is so selfish that to get grandchildren she'll conspire with a Gypsy grifter to obtain a love potion to use on her only daughter. A cast of Gypsies, grifters, gamblers, gangsters, and fools creates a fanciful tale about life in heartland America.