OF MICE AND MEN - STEINBECK, JOHN

They are an unlikely pair - George is 'small and quick and dark of face'; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a 'family,' clinging together in the face of lonelinss and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan - to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.