Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas is a historical fiction book set during the Homestead Act in 1910. The Homestead Act was signed by Abraham Lincoln and it was an act that stated that anybody who is the head of a house can get 150 acres of land for free. The main character's name is Belle Martin and it follows her and her family's struggle as new homesteaders in Colorado. This is a story that shows the struggle of dry farming, sicknesses and weather issues. The themes in this book are family, survival, history, loss and love. I enjoyed this book because it was written with a lot of detail and even though it was set in 1910, it had a lot of relatable and exciting things that happened. You root for the characters to find their way through dry farming for the first time, and to make it without running out of money which was very common during this time because the crops could fail. I would give this book 4.5 stars out of 5 because it had good detail and storylines, but the beginning was a little slow.