Nevermore: Growing Up in Coal Country, Where Coyotes Howl, Abingdon's Boardinghouse Murder

 

Nevermore 8-6-24:  Reported by Rita

Growing up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Based on personal interviews, newspaper accounts, mining inspection records, and other original sources, a portrait of life in the Pennsylvania coal mines and "patch villages" tells the heartbreaking but life-affirming story of children and adults for whom this region represented a way of life.

 The stories are heart-wrenching and tough to read, but they are well-written.     –NH     5 stars

 

Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas

In 1916 Wallace, Wyoming, schoolteacher Ellen Webster finds purpose in her work as a rancher's wife and in her bonds with other women settled on the prairie as they look out for each other, share their secrets and help one another in times of need.

 This was an easy read with a touching story. Very good.      –CD      5 stars

 

Abingdon's Boardinghouse Murder by Greg Lilly

On a bitter November night in 1945, a widow shot her young boarder, a WWII veteran, and left him to die on the floor of his room. Helen Clark tossed the gun under the neighbor's porch and then took a taxi to join her teen daughters at a movie in Bristol. When the body was found, after several conflicting statements, she settled on the claim that he shot himself four times, twice in the back. The Commonwealth of Virginia called it murder in a jealous rage. The trial enthralled the nation.

Local author Greg Lilly uses newspaper coverage of the murder, the investigation, and the trial to reveal the facts of the Abingdon boardinghouse murder.

I was disappointed with the outcome, but the book was enjoyable, and I liked the writing.      –GP     4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Serena: a Novel by Ron Rash

The Ron Rash Reader by Ron Rash

The Cove by Ron Rash

The Risen: a Novel by Ron Rash

Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves by James Hollis

City of Dreams: a Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan by Beverly Swerling

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand

 

New Books

A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra

The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts by Rodney Castleden

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg

In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf

Losing our Religion: an Altar Call for Evangelical America by Russell Moore

Crochet Monsters by Megan Lapp