The Talk of the Town — Fran Baker

Set in 1933, a time of terrible hardship, uncommon strength and dreams of a better day,The Talk of the Town is the first in a series of Depression-era books that are named for popular period songs.

Luke Bauer is an ex-con, a man Roxie Mitchell has been warned to avoid. Yet she hires him, daring to offer him a second chance even as gossip mushrooms in the small Missouri town to which they each have recently returned.

Roxie has to admit that something more than compassion has compelled her to act. Luke is an underdog and a man she finds hard to resist. She's his only friend, the woman he tries not to touch. But their daily lunches, their growing bonds, have not been ignored by friend or by foe. Soon they will both be tested. And soon they will have to make a choice between the passion they can no longer deny and the town that will neither forgive nor forget.