Publisher's Synopsis
Luke Smith and his family live in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the Appalachian Mountains during the early part of the 21st Century, when the world is changing quickly. That hard mountain rock proved poor help when it came to digging a garden, and the black coal that grew deep in those hills was a blessing, and a curse. Coal is plentiful, and it gives Harlan a reason for existing in the middle of the Appalachian Mountain range in Eastern Kentucky. The coal gives many men jobs who are no hands at farming or tinkering, and who understand hard work. The coal kills many of them, too. Some die fast in blasts and accidents and roof falls. Some die slow from claustrophobic, lung-packing, back-breaking work six days a week. Luke's family had moved to Harlan when Luke was a boy. His father was a coal miner, and Luke remembered his brother, John, taking a job in the mine over near Black Hollow at age 10. He hadn't made it to 16. And Luke's father had coughed himself to an early grave. Luke, his wife, two daughters, two sons, and his extended family now must face the hardships of the time that gave 'Bloody Harlan' its nickname. Even though Luke and his family don't work in the mines themselves, friends, family, and strangers become tangled up in the harsh and bloody attempts to unionize the coal miners. Those attempts result in tragedy for the Smith family foretold by recurring dreams Luke has as we first get to know him. Luke has to decide his future, and the future of his family, when the fights between the miners and the mine owners and their ruffians hit too close to home to ignore them any longer. Luke runs a dairy and a store...with his store being one of the few outside of Harlan that isn't owned by a coal mine. That makes it an honest haven for the coal mining families who try to eek out a living without giving it all back to the mine owners. Luke is a businessman, but he also is a Christian man who attends church on Sundays and tries to do what is right. Into his life comes a young man from the city who is running from his own demons, and the destinies of the two men become entwined as the drama of Bloody Harlan unfolds around them. Luke decides to write in a diary about his thoughts and experiences to help him make sense of the craziness of the world. As one early entry stated: Sept. 12, 1941 "Times have not been easy here lately. Guess they've never been real easy, but they passed. Now I am wondering if these will ever pass. The depression has left us all hurting, some more than others. I thank the Lord that me and mine have a little land and this store and the will to work. There's some that don't have a little land, and some that don't have a job, and many that don't seem to have the will." You can witness the times and trials of those mountain people through Luke's eyes as he attempts to overcome his grief and anger while surviving not only the war between the unions and the mine owners, but the war in Europe that is creeping ever closer to becoming a reality for his country. As Luke faces his demons, he must decide whether to become an avenging angel or a man of God and peace. Through which will come his redemption? From the Author: Appalachian Diary is a written "docudrama" set in the times that Bloody Harlan got its nickname. Many of the stories that go on behind the scenes in this book are based on verbal accounts from people who lived in Harlan County, Kentucky, during that time-most of them my relatives! Many details of daily life come from information gleaned from my extended family and from a diary kept by my grandfather, who lived in Verda, Kentucky, just outside of Harlan. That diary served as the source of my inspiration for the content and the name of this novel. Some of the historic timelines have been altered for this fictional story to better condense some of the activities that took place over decades and generations. I hope you enjoy reading Appalachian Diary.
