Steinbeck is fantastic.

Jim Nolan is down on his luck but has a lead on a job. It isn't clear until later in the story, the "job" is as a labor organizer for the Communist Party. Torgas Valley is a fictional apple growing center in California. Bums, migrant pickers, and poor working stiffs converge on the valley to pick the harvest. Jim and his mentor, Mac, look to instigate a strike and get a decent wage for the pickers. Violence and double-crossing and scabs and vigilantes abound.

Two or three houses south of Loma Alta on the west side of Fair Oaks. Look for the white picket fence.