Coal town blues
by Maxine
In her debut novel, When We Get There, Shauna Seliy describes the coming of age of 13 year old Lucas who in 1974 lives in one of the few remaining coal mining towns in Western Pennsylvania. His large Eastern European family is ruled by Lucas' grandmother, Slats. Lucas' father has recently died in a mining accident. His grief-stricken mother, Mirjana flees and Lucas goes off in search of her. Seliy's novel is a moving and authentic description of a vanishing culture and way of life and the maturation of a young man who faces his losses head on.
For two other novels that expose union busting by coal companies in Kentucky and West Virginia, try Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven and its sequel, An Unquiet Earth.
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