W I N N E R B E S T F I C T I O N
N E M B A A W A R D S 2 0 2 2
This is the story of a gun that hung on the wall
and the son who fell in love
and the miner who left to be a cop in Chicago.
It is also the story of the son’s younger brother,
who outlived everyone in his family to tell what happened,
how they adored the first-born Tony, how Tony found the prettiest girlfriend,
strived to be a man, then fell away into a state of mind they did not foresee,
and what it is like to remember them all—the house full and poor,
their mother praying in Croatian,
their immigrant father leading rough track-gang workers
in the widest open iron ore pit in the world.
Suspenseful and poetic, Steel takes you from the gang shootings of Chicago
and the beautiful anguish of first love, forward to the present day
and an aging man’s reflections on family and want—and truth.
Available at libraries, select bookstores, Barnes & Noble online and Amazon
“Kathleen Novak's Steel
is a quietly-told,
beautifully-crafted
epic tragedy,
a story with all
the emotional force
of an iron fist in a
delicately-embroidered
velvet glove.”
IndieReader, Five-Star Review
October 28, 2021
“Novak’s Steel holds
enormous weight . . .
a story that rolls
like an ore train
picking up steam.”
Aaron Brown, Mesabi Tribune
February 13, 2022
“A Stunner—
Novak portrays how easy it is
to become caught in a web
of unintended consequences
and how disastrous it can be
when the delicate bond
of young love shatters.”
Prairie Books Review
October 9, 2021
“Steel is an intimate
coming-of-age story set in
a gritty northern Minnesota
mining town in the 1920s . . .
a moving novel about family
loyalties, the beauty of young
love, and the tragedy of
shattered dreams.”
Foreword Magazine
(historical fiction feature reviews)
January/February 2022
"Steel is a profound and unexpected read, poetic
and surprising, a story that
will stay with you long
after the last page."
Carolyn Colburn
Morlocks in the Basement