"A sweeping romance set against a grim historical era"

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In the summer of 1932, during the height of the Great Depression, the spirited nineteen-year-old aristocrat Annaleise Winston longs for more than what her life in the glittering High Society of New York, her scheming mother, or her new wealthy, abusive fiancee Frank Alexander. Annaleise leaves her comfortable, privileged life for the unknown, and finds herself in the new community encapment which has taken over Central Park--colloquially known as Hooverville, after President Herbert Hoover.

There, Annaleise meets immigrants, poor families, ill elderly, and downtrodden day laborers, including a kind shoeshine named Thomas Kelley, whose positive outlook on life reminds Annaleise of why she left home to begin with, but she can't escape her past life forever, especially in a place so cutthroat as a Hooverville, or a fiancee as determined as Frank.

Hooverville is based on a true story about grit, survival, and the strength of community, disguised as a love story between two people who never should have met. It is about class differences pitting a psychological war between the wealthy and the poor, rather than aiming blame at the people in positions of power, profiting off the conflict. Hooverville is a story about the way humans show up for each other, even when the world seems at its' bleakest. Written primarily during the Covid-19 pandemic, this work reflects the tense optimism of the early-quarantine era.

Hooverville is Kayla Joy's first novel and second self-published work, following Morbid Tales From Behind The Mirror.