Authors Read Podcast

Max and Del did everything together. They bought the same bikes, wore the same clothes, and competed with one another as best friends often do in high school. As their summer together looms on the horizon, and the school year comes to an end, their friendship is tested when Max realizes their blue-collar upbringing in New Athens provides a life of limitations he didn't imagine. His only escape from it is in his true feelings for Annika, Del's girlfriend, who he can't be with. To prevent any wrongdoing, Max forms a simple plan: to find a way to escape his working a class destiny after high school for something greater than what's in Milltown. "The Boy from the Forge is a coming-of-age story that skillfully combines nostalgia for friendship, first loves, and choosing one's path into adulthood...Max's moments of internal dialogue about how to move forward in life are true to the difficult choices teenagers face."  --Foreward Reviews "...wide-ranging observations intrinsic to the story made by the teen characte