**"Brilliant, diamond-hard fiction, heartwrenching, tough and
tender."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
**
Annadel, West Virginia, was a small town rich in coal, farms, and
close-knit families, all destroyed when the coal company came in. It
stole everything it hadn't bothered to buy--land deeds, private homes,
and ultimately, the souls of its men and women.
Four people tell this powerful, deeply moving tale: Activist Mayor C.J.
Marcum. Fierce, loveless union man Rondal Lloyd. Gutsy nurse Carrie
Bishop, who loved Rondal. And lonely, Sicilian immigrant Rose Angelelli,
who lost four sons to the deadly mines.
They all bear witness to nearly forgotten events of history, culminating
in the final, tragic Battle of Blair Mountain--when the United States
Army greeted 10,000 unemployed pro-union miners with airplanes, bombs,
and poison gas. It was the first crucial battle of a war that has yet to
be won.