HEARTS OF IRON

As she did in The Sacrifice (2005), about the Salem witch trials, Duble examines the dynamics of outsiders and insiders, outcasts and dreamers, in a tight-knit community. Here, it’s 1820 in a Connecticut mountain community dependent on their ironworks. The original workers came from Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland and Sweden, the families stayed and each generation worked the furnace. Now, 15-year-old Jess dreams of a life off the mountain but is torn between his need to leave and his love for Lucy. And she must choose between her love for Jess and her father’s wish for her to marry better and move to Boston. Though the story tends toward melodrama, and the ironworks feels like an underdeveloped character, the tangle of human affairs makes for a satisfying tale of home, community and the nature of love. (author’s note, sources) (Fiction. 10-14)