Working conditions in the mines are horrendous and the labor movement is rumbling; nearly every day, wives watch in frightened yet resigned anticipation as the Black Maria, the "death wagon," rattles down the street to the newest widow's door. When the Black Maria shows up at Anetka's shanty just a few months after her wedding, she must dig deeper into her reserves of strength to carry on. Luckily, a young man named Leon has been patiently waiting in the wings. Their relationship is sweetly immature--until the very end, she persists in trying to convince herself she can't stand him because he teases her.
The fact that there are no real surprises in Susan Campbell Bartoletti's historical novel will not detract from readers' enjoyment of the story. The emphasis is on the historically accurate descriptions of coal mines in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, during the late 1890s. An informative author's note, photographs, notes to a coal-mining song, and even a tantalizing recipe for potato dumplings round out this fascinating portrait of a grim time in history. As with the other titles in the immensely popular Dear America series, A Coal Miner's Bride is written in the form of a diary. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter