A Stone of the Heart

This quiet, slender novel of a boy's maturation in the shadow of his dysfunctional family takes place in 1961, during the summer when Roger Maris hit his sixty-first home run. Fourteen year old Michael puts his hope in baseball and Maris catching Babe Ruth's record as his family falls apart. His alcoholic father has left the family, his passive mother offers no support, his younger brother Rudy is mute, and his grandparents don't have the strength to halt the collapse of the small family. As Michael assumes the role of the man of the house, he begins to see the world beyond his small, wounded sphere, and, in the process, discovers how to survive.Not much longer than a novella, A STONE OF THE HEART can be read in a single sitting. Grimes explores the delicate dynamics of a lost family with a sure, light hand. Despite the subject matter, this novel is not grim; instead, it highlights, often with humor, the awkwardness of growing up.