Claire Hartford Hornstein

Fragile Roots: an Historical Novel Claire Hartford Hornstein

The great Depression of the '30s catapults a young girl from a wealthy middle class family into poverty and a working lass milieu. Her first love whom she marries and later divorces, inspires her with the ideal that Communism can bring a just, fair and humane world, where people will live in peace, harmony and plenty. Ruth devotes herself to achieving that dream. Her life, loves, passions and struggles are interwoven with the political history of the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Civil Rights struggle, the Vietnam War. Ruth tries to establish strong roots in the working class and shed her middle class values, but her roots are fragile in a soil of doubts. As a Union organizer she falls in love with a fellow organizer who is the epitome of the working class. He understands the fragility of her commitment to Communist ideals and the fragility of her roots in working class struggle. They marry and have two children. But as the witch hunt against Communists sweeps America during the McCarthy era, their family suffers. Worst of all, they become disillusioned with Communism. Their ideal system has feet of clay and is incapable of making the world just, fair and humane. When their Communist dream ends, Brad sickens and dies. As Ruth faces life alone, she vows that she will continue to struggle to make life better for people - in whatever way she can - because people deserve better.