When Love Was Spring

When Love Was Spring is set in a small Minnesota town from 1932-1942. The protagonist is a teen-age boy who falls in love with a young married woman, his employer and mentor. In time, she reciprocates and they have an affair which, poignant and doomed, ends in scandal. Meanwhile, a girl his age falls in love with him. The situation among the three principals precipitates the action. But it is the relationship between the naive youth and the sophisticated woman that is the crux of the story. The background of the novelthe Depression, the advent of World War II, and life in a small townis integral to the development of the plot and creates an underlying nostalgia. There is love, joy, and the possibility of happiness, but there is also frustration, disappointment, and the threat of malevolent interference. A cast of supporting players in the dramathe womans husband, the teens parents, others less important yet significantmake this a story of common people caught up in uncommon events.