Book is in French Of mice and Men . George and Lennie, two friends as different as they are inseparable, travel, work and dream of living together on "a little corner of land" all their own. Against the backdrop of a rural America shaken by the Great Depression of the 1930s, Of Mice and Men raises disarmingly topical questions: does man become cruel through loneliness? Are some lives worth more than others? How far should we go for those we love?