This is Ann Pancake's latest book, like her first, a story collection. In between was her novel, Strange as the Weather Has Been, arguably the strongest literary depiction in novel form of the devastation of mountain top removal coal mining. Ann Pancake's connection to West Virginia is very strong. Her mother is from Huntington, and her father from Hampshire County on the other side of the state, and that is where she graduated from High School before attending WVU. She had taught in Japan, Thailand, and American Samoa, and credits her international experiences with helping her understand the uniqueness of her home culture and her desire to write about it.
Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2015. 291 pages. Trade paperback.