by Lydia Millet
First published 2016
Across two hundred years in West Virginia's mountains, men and women struggle against the unforgiving landscape that shapes them. A miner descends into darkness while his family waits above. A farmer watches his land disappear to strip mining. Children grow up knowing their world is vanishing. The mountains witness generations of stubborn men whose anger burns like wildfire, whose rare moments of gentleness flow like mountain streams. Animals and humans exist in fragile balance as industries rise and fall. Families endure cycles of want and loss while the Allegheny Front stands unchanged. These interconnected stories reveal how appetite and exploitation carve through Appalachian communities, leaving behind grief and resilience in equal measure.
Genres: family-life, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: generational-saga, man-vs-nature
Setting: West Virginia, Allegheny Front
Period: 19th Century, 20th Century, 21st Century
185 pages · Kindle Edition · Sarabande Books