Returning home from college to her West Virginia, coal-mining roots, Portia Crowe escapes a bad marriage and follows in her family's footsteps to become one of the first female members of the United Mine Workers
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This autobiographical debut novel about coal mining in Appalachia is almost hypnotic in its intensity, drama, and stark realism. Portia Crowe immerses herself in books and goes her own way, unimpressed by the drab female lives she sees around her in a West Virginia mining town. She becomes the first of her family to study in college but, when she returns home, finds her career options limited to teaching in the local high school. Twelve years later, Portia has a colorless marriage to a preacher, a home ruled by her possessive mother-in-law, and a son who prefers his indulgent grandmother to her. Her beloved father has died in a mining accident. When her grandfather succumbs to lung disease, grief and renewed independence lead Portia to leave her husband. Like all her family, she is both drawn to and repelled by the skilled, risky work of the mines. But the highest-paying, most dangerous career in town is dominated by men who are openly contemptuous of women. When she joins their ranks, she receives a breathtakingly relentless onslaught of abuse. Against a constant backdrop of sexual slurs, foremen give Portia the most physically demanding assignments; she toughs it out. The wild card, however, is the attraction between Portia and her boss, Steve Zanzucki. Reasoning that Portia's hazing could not get worse, they have an affair, and Portia becomes pregnant. Steve abandons her, and the foremen respond with severe workloads that nearly cause a miscarriage. Portia takes a respite from the mines, recovers her health, and gives birth to a son. But when she returns to mining, she suffers an accident that leaves her right arm useless. As the men try frantically to rescue her, they finally grant her their long-withheld caring and respect. A hard-edged tale of mining conditions and, especially, of the dearly bought success of one courageous woman. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Angle's first novel, about a young woman's coming of age in a small West Virginia coal-mining town, resonates with authentic detail and narrative passion, despite some flaws. The apparently autobiographical story follows one Portia Crowe through childhood, adolescence, marriage and motherhood in a harsh and joyless world. The menfolk of Cogan's Bluff, including Portia's grandfather, father and brother, spend their lives working in the mines. When Portia finds herself divorced and struggling in a town with limited opportunities, she becomes one of the first women to follow the men underground (as the author herself did, in 1975). Angle's observations about mining's crushing effect on bodies and spirits are trenchant and unforgettable; unfortunately, she fails to explore adequately the complex feelings about home and family that keep Portia in Cogan's Bluff, despite a college education that widens her opportunities. The book's greatest strength is a unique narrative voice that renders a vanishing way of life in perfect pitch. Yet, probably because of its autobiographical inspiration, the story is essentially formless, adding up to what's more an amalgam of episodes than a solid plot. Still, this serves as an interesting piece of social realism, a highly personal testament to survival in harsh circumstances .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. Duodecimo, 7 1/4" tall, 307 pages, black quarter-cloth. A near fine, clean, neat hard cover first edition with little shelf wear; hinges and binding tight, paper cream white. In a near fine, lightly rubbed dust jacket, with original price. Seller Inventory # 17786
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.85. Seller Inventory # G0517597993I3N00
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Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Very Good Hardcover with Very Good dustjacket. Seller Inventory # 210219-MB11
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Seller: Bolerium Books Inc., San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. 307p., first edition, remainder mark on top edge else very good condition in like dj. "[S]tory of the complex relationship between miners and the Earth, between the union and the company, and between men and women, written by one of the first women to go into the Appalachian coal mines." - dj. Seller Inventory # 52970
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. A Good copy in a Good dust wrapper of a "Review Copy" of ".the story of the complex relationship between miners and the Earth, between the union and the company, and between men and women, written by one of the first women to go into the Appalachian coal mines." Brick red boards have slight scratching and spotting to black spine but gilt lettering on the spine is still crisp. Slight lean to volume. Dust wrapper is not price clipped. Wear to dust wrapper with smudging, scratching and a small closed tear along the bottom edge. Slight curl along the top edge of inside flap of dust wrapper. Slight sunning to top edge of both dust wrapper flaps. Lain in is a Review copy slip from Crown Publishing Group. 29 Chapters, 307 pages. Stated First Edition."Summary: A college-educated woman in West Virginia falls on hard times and gets a job as a miner. Portia Crowe is the object of constant harassment, and an affair with her boss turns sour when she becomes pregnant and he abandons her. After giving birth to a son she returns to the mine, is involved in an accident and in one of life's twists her former abusers rush to help her. The author was a miner and this is her debut in fiction.". Seller Inventory # 002483
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Condition: Good. SHIPS FROM USA. Used books have different signs of use and do not include supplemental materials such as CDs, Dvds, Access Codes, charts or any other extra material. All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. All images are Stock Photos, not of the actual item. book. Seller Inventory # 49-0517597993-G
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Condition: Good. SHIPS FROM USA. Used books have different signs of use and do not include supplemental materials such as CDs, Dvds, Access Codes, charts or any other extra material. All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. All images are Stock Photos, not of the actual item. book. Seller Inventory # 47-0517597993-G
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Hard cover, very good/ very good. This moving, eye-opening novel, written by one of the first women to go down into the Appalachian mines, is a deeply felt story about a woman fighting for respect and opportunity in one of the least hospitable places on earth. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ in. - 9¾ in.Tall. Book. Seller Inventory # 112976
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