Light in the Dust is the heartwarming tale of one young woman's struggle to survive the poverty and oppression of the post-war years. Written with startling clarity and honesty, it is a book that celebrates the triumph of an irrepressible optimism in the face of the greatest of odds. This is the story of the survival of the human spirit in the face of parental oppression and social and economic deprivation. It points to a greater need for compassionate understanding in a society often deaf and blind to the mental scarring of the growing child and, by definition, of the adult.