The Unquiet Earth: A Novel [Hardcover]

Denise Giardina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 1992

Dillon Freeman returns from World War II to Blackberry Creek, West Virginia, where he confronts the coal mining industry as a union organizer and falls in love with his conventional cousin, Rachel. By the author of Storming Heaven.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Giardina's powerful sequel to the highly praised Storming Heaven again focuses on Blackberry Creek, a West Virginia coal-mining town targeted for union-busting by coal companies and the federal government. In a timeframe reaching from 1930 to the present, Giardina dramatizes the community's--and individual characters'--short-lived victories, overwhelming frustrations and ultimate devastation. Rebels kept in check with threats of violence, impoverished children whose pride is damaged by outsiders' self-satisfied displays of charity, and men who have survived mine-shaft collapses only to succumb to black lung disease populate these pages; all must watch as their cherished sites are destroyed by machines that strip the land. Central to the novel is the secret, star-crossed love affair of cousins Dillon Freedman, a fierce union activist, and Rachel Honaker, a practical woman who holds an establishment job as a nurse. Their emotional bond is strained by conflicting politics, while their tragic situation is magnified by Rachel's daughter Jackie, who is unaware that Dillon may be her father and ashamed of her "hillbilly" roots. Narrated in four primary and three lesser voices, this compelling saga starkly portrays the mining families' symbiotic, spiritual relationship with nature and their helplessness in dealing with the ruthless men who control their lives.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This sequel to Storming Heaven ( LJ 7/87) follows the next generation of West Virginia coal miners from the Depression into the 1990s. Union organizer Dillon Freeman fights against the increasingly sophisticated tactics of the coal company while he struggles with his feelings for his cousin Rachel Honaker. She crosses over into "enemy territory" when she becomes entangled with company men, but continues to help her family and friends as a county public health nurse. Rachel's daughter Jackie learns of a world beyond Blackberry Creek when she meets Tom, a priest from the Peace Corps, who seeks to organize a food co-op and later works for social justice in Honduras. Giardina continues to create believable characters and a vivid landscape of pain as the coal mining community disintegrates over time. Highly recommended.
- Heather Blenkinsopp, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 367 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (May 17, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393030962
• ISBN-13: 978-0393030969
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Saga of Americana Life, February 9, 2000

By 

Steven Whaley - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unquiet Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

This was one,if not the only, book that I was forced to read in college that I came away from adoring. The story, which is based on real events (national coal strikes, and the Buffalo Creek Disaster)with a small fictional liberty, is a wonderful piece of American literature that I believe can cross cultural and geographical lines of America. I loved how it followed the lives of two generations during sweeping national events and how it effected everyone, even in a little hamlet in West Virginia. I believe this movie is excellent potential for a movie adaptation. If you want to see a MOVIE that relates to this book, watch John Sayles "Matewan".

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Characters to get involved with., August 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Unquiet Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

One of the best reads I've experienced. The story line and characters make this a hard book to put down. Have loaned it to family and friends and all have had same comment. Be sure to read Storming Heaven first. The families and events follow those of Storming Heaven. What a treat to be able to continue the struggles of this minning community from the 1800's into the present.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars compelling characters, authentic depiction of Appalachia, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Unquiet Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

Denise Giardina is a novelist who sets her stories around fictionalized versions of historical events in West Virginia. _Storming Heaven_, her version of the Mine Wars of the 1920s, is perhaps her best known, but I like _The Unquiet Earth_ better. Covering decades, it's about two cousins growing up in the middle part of this century in a small town that is ultimately devastated by a flash flood when a dam bursts. The characters are compelling, the touches of Appalachia ring true without either romanticizing or denigrating the people of the area.