The author, Lillian Crone Frazier, was known as “Sissy” as a youngster growing up in the 1950s, the 7th child in the family of a coal miner and housewife living in Minden, West Virginia, a coal company town. “Reading Frazer's account of that time period was a mixture of emotion from the simple joys of a childhood spent playing games, to the hidden stress her parents must have been going through in order to make ends meet. Frazer's direct writing style is an asset since the matter-of-fact style allows readers to put themselves in her shoes and relate their own circumstances to the ones she describes. She has a gift for making the everyday compelling. The book is laced with photographs to give the reader an even clearer picture of the world being depicted.” – Pacific Book Review. “This is an important book, as it forms a record of everyday life that would otherwise be lost with the passage of generations. Illustrated with photographs throughout, the account offers stories that have a cumulative emotional power, vividly evoking mid-20th-century life in a remote mining town. Heartfelt, endearing and, most significantly, a vital historical record of a Southern town.” - Kirkus Review. Lillian Crone Frazier currently lives in Oak Hill, West Virginia, only a few miles from Minden where she grew up. She works for a security guard service.
Bloomington, Indiana: Author House, 2018. 120 pages with photos. Trade paperback