Strange as This Weather Has Been

What is it like to live your life beneath a mountaintop strip mine? Anne Pancake writes of a coal mining family and their four children living through the mining boom and mountaintop strip mining that takes place very close to their home. The water is spoiled, the workers lose their jobs and children grow up under the shadow of the mountain.

Good novels of Appalachia are few and far between. This is one of the good ones. Pancake writes sparingly but strongly of how the collapsing mountain and the collapsing economy contribute to the breakup of a family and through them, the change of a rural community.

The story is told through the voices of Lace and her four children, all of who are affected in different ways. Pancakes writing shows how people love their land, and why they stay on somewhere when there is no reason to remain.

A poignant story, well written and enjoyable. No happy endings here, but a satisfying read.