MSI Press Blog

  Stories of people rising from rags to riches are practically a national pastime. We celebrate them, teach them, quote them, and hold them up as proof that grit and determination can conquer anything. But there is another story—quieter, heavier, and far less comfortable—that almost never gets told. What happens when a family goes from riches to rags? We don’t talk about it because it unsettles us. It disrupts the myth that success, once achieved, is permanent. It reminds us that life can turn sharply, without warning, and that even the most stable foundations can crack. But these stories matter. They reveal a different kind of resilience—one forged not in the pursuit of prosperity, but in the aftermath of its loss. The First Shock: When the World Tilts A fall from wealth rarely happens all at once. It begins with small tremors: a business deal that collapses, a medical crisis, a lawsuit, a recession, a betrayal, a string of bad luck. At first, the family tells themselves it’s temp...

  Pre-order sales of Kindle ebook available on Amazon . Release date: June 30. Pre-order sales of paperback book available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon . Release date: June 30. Pre-order sales of paperback book available at 25 percent discount available at MSI Press webstore . Release date June 30. Book Description: They sold the farm, packed up seven children, and chased a promise called California. Based on Hazel’s journal, this true story follows a family that leaves Wisconsin hoping for relief from brutal winters—only to run out of money with hundreds of miles still to go. Stranded and desperate, they enter a world of labor camps, endless fieldwork, hunger, and exhaustion, where families are worked hard, paid little, and treated as disposable. Once respected and secure, they find themselves suddenly labeled vagrants. Pride becomes a liability. Dignity must be defended daily. And survival depends on grit, faith, and refusing to give up—especially for Hazel, who will not all...

  Pre-order sales available on Amazon . Release date: June 30. Paperback release date: June 30. Watch for it. Book Description: They sold the farm, packed up seven children, and chased a promise called California. Based on Hazel’s journal, this true story follows a family that leaves Wisconsin hoping for relief from brutal winters—only to run out of money with hundreds of miles still to go. Stranded and desperate, they enter a world of labor camps, endless fieldwork, hunger, and exhaustion, where families are worked hard, paid little, and treated as disposable. Once respected and secure, they find themselves suddenly labeled vagrants. Pride becomes a liability. Dignity must be defended daily. And survival depends on grit, faith, and refusing to give up—especially for Hazel, who will not allow poverty to erase who she is or break her family apart. This is a raw, gripping true story of endurance, injustice, and a woman who stood her ground when everything was taken away. Endorsement:...