Coal River: A Powerful and Unforgettable Story of 20th Century Injustice

I had previously read Ms Wiseman's "The Lost Girls of Willowbrook", which intrigued me enough that I wanted to know more about mental hospitals. This story of Coal River miners was another that had me looking into the Pennsylvania mines of the past. Emma Malloy lived in Coal River when she was 10 and her 8 yr old brother drowned. When she was 19 her parents died in a Manhattan theater fire. She must return to Coal River to live with her aunt and uncle or else be sent to the poorhouse. Uncle Otis is the foreman of the mine owned by Hazard Flint. Both men are ruthless money grubbers who don't care about how cruel the miners and breaker boys lives are. Clayton Nash is a miner who is trying to unionize the miners. Emma sees so many maimed young breaker boys she feels she must help them. In her efforts she ends up being thrown out of her uncle's house. She goes to stay with Clayton and the orphan children he supports. The characters are all very well written. The story will have you on the edge of your seat when the "Black Maria" hearse comes to the miners' village to bring home a miner's body, wondering who it is. You'll root for Emma in her brave pursuits. You won't be expecting the shocking courtroom scene. I found myself hating to be interrupted while reading this amazing and enlightening tale. I highly recommend this story. I read more about the breaker boys and this unforgettable time in America's history.Ellen Marie Wiseman is a very inspiring author.

This is the first book I have read by Ellen Marie Wiseman and I thoroughly enjoyed it though it broke my heart. It is a well-researched book about coal mining in Pennslvania at the turn of the 20th Century. It tells of the hideous working conditions for the breaker boys, children as young as 6 years, who sit on planks above moving conveyor belts carrying coal. Their job is to sort out, with their bare hands, the shale and other non-coal items moving past them. The work was dangerous and many children lost limbs while their fathers risked their lives in the mines and their mothers struggled to make ends meet. The corruption was infuriating with miners and their families living in company provided homes from which they were evicted upon the death of the miner; with women having to buy over-priced food and household goods from the company store and being turned away to starve if they were unable to pay the bills.The book weaves the story of the unionization of the miners and a love story between Emma and Clayton, a miner who not only takes in orphans but is trying to bring fair labor practices to the mines by supporting the miners to strike.The story is well-researched and well-told. The characters are rich and believable and the action moved forward at a good pace. I look forward to reading other stories by this author and certainly recommend this book to others.

Coal River is indeed a very unforgettable story. It was difficult to put down. I would continue reading whenever I had time.

I grew up in northeast PA so I was well aware of the plight of the breaker boys and the hardship\abuse of immigrant miner families before reading this book. I love historical fiction and was thrilled to find a book about this era in PA history.I had so many hopes for this book but unfortunately, I could not finish it. I could not bring myself to like the main character. I understand that the author was trying to write from the perspective of a teenage girl, but the teenage “drama” completely ruined my feelings for the main character. Emma reacts by swooning, near fainting, throat closing, stomach turning and grabbing chairs to stay upright. Unless you have a medical condition, you should not feel faint when circumstances or conversations are difficult (no matter your age). With such a weak constitution and overly emotional reactions to life, I found Emma’s “backbone” moments to be unbelievable. Wiseman's portrayal of Emma in this manner perpetuates a patriarchal myth that women are just too weak and emotional to handle serious problems.I had a college history professor who wrote a non-fiction book about a local mining operation. He often spoke about the dangerous working conditions, how the miners were paid in “script” that could only be used at the company store and how the mine would leave a dead miner on the front porch for the family to retrieve. Wiseman obviously did her homework by perfectly describing how mining companies abused their employees during this era.Generally, I am not a fan of love stories and found this book tedious and boring. My dislike for the main character “Emma” was just too intense. The only reason I am giving the book three stars is because of the historical accuracy.

This was the first book I read by Wiseman, and I absolutely loved it. Her writing is wonderfully detailed, and one can only feel for the young heroine of this scary tale wherein she is trapped in a helpless situation from which she see no escape. The injustices people once suffered while working in coal mines is heartbreaking and frightening, and Wiseman does a marvelous job in sharing this horrific past reality of our times.

This book kept my attention and kept me guessing how it would end. I am on one hand glad I finished it so I am not stressing about these families anymore and on the other hand wanting to read another book by this author!

Good but somewhat disturbing read.

This book kept you turning pages. I didn’t want to put it down. All emotions in one book! I could not guess the end.

I enjoy reading novels about the history of North America. Coal mining occurred all over the continent and I can't imagine how many families were impacted by the lack of enforcement of child labour laws.

A nice change to read for me. Hard to believe those things happened to children in the coal mines and society let it happen.

Fantastic

This author has me right in the palm of her hands from the first page of her books...I have read them all and waiting for her new one to come out I believe in August. Coal Mining was something I knew little to nothing about, and if this is how it was, which I can surely imagine it must have been, her story again, is so fictionally true to life "as it was". I always feel if a book I reach teaches me something, or I gain tremendous knowledge about a subject I knew nothing about, then the writing abilities are great. Thank you Ellen Marie for again opening up that "window to the past".

If you are looking for an historical romance that has been well researched and portrays an important time in North American history, then this is the book for you.The historical details about the atrocities committed in the name of commerce by the coal mining companies in the United States were intricately woven into this story of a young woman who is orphaned and forced to live with cruel relatives who work in the coal mining business.The romantic elements were a bit predictable as the young woman falls in love with the kind and just leader of the strike movement. Spoiler: he is not only handsome, but also takes care of orphans.It has a satisfying if not unexpected conclusion. It’s a great book for those who want a little more from the romances they read.