Laura Chadwick

Red Rider Laura Chadwick

The story is set in Weirton, West Virginia, a small 1950s industrial town in the Northern panhandle of the state. Weirton is more akin to Ohio and Pennsylvania than the rural heart of West Virginia. Weirton's economy and its existence is dominated by the Weirton Steel Company and related coal mining spread throughout the region. For this Ohio Valley steel mill community the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s were the high water marks in development, growth, and prosperity. The city was described as a melting pot, a city of churches and the essence of ethnic diversity.

It is 1958-59. The two main characters are seniors at Weir High School. They and their friends experience the fun and frustrations of their final year in the controlled environment of public education. They move through the nine-month school year dealing with academics, sports, romance, religion, friendships, social mores, and their futures. They are growing from adolescence to early adulthood, with all the ups and downs that come with that transition.

Marc was born a Weirtonian, a town whose tradition places great emphasis on winning, working, and achievement. Jamie has just arrived from Birmingham, England, following her father's career in the mushrooming global steel industry. She is adjusting to life in the United States, its fast pace and the abundance of everything. Together they travel through the trials of going from seventeen to eighteen and the prospect of the inevitable--maturity.

The unique small-town atmosphere adds to the unexpected twist and turns that is their final year of youth. They respond in many ways together but just as many in opposite directions. As they reach the final days and events of high school, everything is falling into place and is in sync, then . . .