Hearts of Stone

by Kathleen Ernst

Book Overview

When her father goes off to join the Yankee troops, fourteen-year-old Hannah fears her family will be torn apart by the Civil War. But nothing prepares her for her mother's sudden death. Hannah now... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525476865
• ISBN13: 9780525476863
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Fabulous read!

Hannah Cameron was just fifteen years old when her father was killed fighting for the Union Army in the Civil War. As residents of Tennessee, his decision to fight against the Rebels in the South caused his family to be hated by most of their neighbors. Shortly after their father's death, Hannah, her nine-year-old brother Jasper, and her five-year-old twin sisters Mary and Maude are left orphans when their mother suddenly passes away after bushwhackers attack them. As the oldest, Hannah must find a way to care for the children, and decides to travel with them to Nashville in order to try to find their only remaining relative. After making the two-hundred-mile journey, the children are devastated to learn of Aunt Ellen's death only six weeks earlier. With nowhere else to go and too worn out to return home, they live on the streets, eventually finding their way to a refugee camp. They remain there for some time, suffering through more trials and hardships, longing for their home in Cumberland Mountain. Hearts of Stone is a fantastic coming of age novel for young readers. Historically accurate and completely engaging, this dramatic book has won numerous awards. Kathleen Ernst used her knowledge and love of the Civil War era to write this remarkable novel, taking ten years to complete the task. Hannah is a determined young woman with the weight of her family's needs on her shoulders, which can quite readily be felt by the reader with Ms. Ernst's descriptive prose. Prejudice, hatred, forgiveness, and strong love for family combine to make Hearts of Stone a novel not soon forgotten. Incidences of stone throwing, stealing, death, and cigar smoking are present, but are needed to show the true circumstances of the time period. Review courtesy of Sherri Myers and Christian Library Journal

What will she do??

Reviewed by Hannah Helm (age 13) for Reader Views (3/06) In the book "Hearts of Stone" Hannah, a 15-year old, and her brother Jasper, and her twin sisters, Maude and Mary, lost everything besides each other. Their father went off to war and three months after he left, they got a letter saying that he had died. And that left just her and her siblings along with her mother, but not her mother for long. Her mother died from a heart attack because she got scared by the Army because they came in the house and took a lot of things from them. It scared her so she had a heart attack and dies. So now that just leaves Hannah and her brother and sisters. And Hannah has to be the older one and take care of the younger ones. Sometimes she just cannot do it because her brother would get mad at her and not listen to her. She knows that she cannot take care of them herself. She knows she has got to do something. There are these families that were friends of their parents and they said that they could take them, but they would have to split apart because they did not have enough money to feed all four of them. She did not want to do that, because the one thing her mother wanted was for them to stay together. So she has to decide what to do. They have an aunt that lives in Nashville, and Hannah decides to go to Nashville to find her. She thinks it is the only way to keep the family together. Hannah knows that it will be a long and dangerous journey all the way to Nashville. There was this one guy that they meet and they think he is all nice and everything; he was not very nice because he steals their horse. So they have to take only the things they need now and that is food and they cannot take most of that along. Then they meet this guy named Willie and he takes them the rest of the way to Nashville because that is where he was going anyways. They get there and they ask people if they know their aunt. And then they find someone that knows her. They tell Hannah where she lives and they go there. But they soon find out that she is died. Hannah does not know what to do now. What will she do??? "Hearts of Stone" is for teenagers and adults, or for really anyone. It is a good book.

Reviewed by Karen Morse

Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, Hearts of Stone is a multifaceted coming of age tale. Hannah Cameron is fourteen when her father joins the Union army, making enemies of the family's closest neighbors. Less than a year later, Hannah, younger brother Jasper, and five-year-old twins Maude and Mary are left parentless when their mother dies during a bushwhacker raid on their Eastern Tennessee home. As Hannah grapples with her new role as caretaker, she must also deal with the very real horrors of war. After leading her siblings in an arduous two-hundred-mile journey to Nashville, Hannah must regroup when she learns that Aunt Ellen, her only living relative, died of a fever six weeks earlier. Alone in the world and demoralized, the Cameron children live on the streets, doing everything they can to stay together. Eventually they end up in a refugee camp, which is both a blessing and a curse, leading to even more trials for Hannah and her siblings. Inspired by a Civil War reenactment of a civilian refugee camp, award-winning author Kathleen Ernst has crafted an historically-accurate novel that gives insight into the deprivations of war, the fallacy of prejudice, and what it means to be a family. Hearts of Stone is as memorable as it is hard to put down. Its plot has enough dramatic twists to keep even adult readers engaged. And, while protagonist Hannah is Ernst's most fully-drawn character, the other characters in the novel are far from one-dimensional. Young readers will have no problem relating to the novel's spunky, stalwart protagonist and the lessons that Hannah learns throughout the novel are very appropriate for its target audience. In fact, Ernst seems to construct the story around Hannah's revelations, making them some of the most moving moments of the novel. Of interest is Hannah's relationship with neighbor Ben, who is subtly cast as her soul mate and helpmeet. In a novel for a different audience, Hannah and Ben would be star-crossed lovers. In Hearts of Stone, however, their relationship is a testament to the importance of overcoming the divisiveness caused by things like the Civil War. In the end, Hannah's coming of age is less about taking responsibility as it is learning how to forgive. It is only when Hannah forgives her father for leaving -- and forgives Ben for siding with the Confederacy -- that she discovers the true meaning of family and the foundation on which to build a hearth and a home.