Storming Heaven

Synopsis

Annadel, West Virginia was a small town rich in coal, farms, and close-knit families, all destroyed when the coal company came in. The company stole everything it hadn't bothered to buy — land deeds, private homes, and ultimately, the souls of its men and women.

Four people tell this powerful, deeply moving tale: activist Mayor C.J. Marcum; fierce, loveless union man Rondal Lloyd; gutsy nurse Carrie Bishop, who loves Rondal; and lonely Sicilian immigrant Rose Angelelli, from whom the mines will take those she loves.

They each bear witness to nearly forgotten events of history, climaxing in the Battle of Blair Mountain, a tragic, true conflict in which the United States Army attacked 10,000 unemployed pro-union miners with airplanes, bombs, and poison gas.

First published 1987.

Hardback by W.W. Norton & Co, 312pp; paperback by Ivy Books (Ballantine), 304pp

Background

I wanted Storming Heaven be my first novel, because I wanted most of all to tell the world the story of the West Virginia mine wars. The publishing industry at that time indicated a lack of interest. No one in the early 1980s wanted a novel about labor struggles in West Virginia.

The history of poverty and exploitation in the Appalachian Mountains is the history of the coal industry. Although I grew up in southern West Virginia, in the coalfields where the events occurred, I had never heard of the mine wars when I was in school. Then I discovered obscure self-published accounts in the back of a local bookstore, and realized West Virginians had fought back against their oppressors.

Inquiries into the archives of local newspapers confirmed the accounts I had discovered. The reason for the cover-up is also clear to anyone who grew up in the West Virginia coalfields. The coal industry controlled, and still controls, all. The story of workers’ rebellion was not one the industry wanted to spread.

Fortunately other voices than myself have since explored this almost lost history. The movie Matewan, by director John Sayles, was key. West Virginia Public Television also began to chronicle these events in documentaries. Labor history in general has never been valued in the United States. Perhaps that will change someday.

What the critics said

"In scope, it encompasses the spirit of humanity, from the heights of greatness to the depths of suffering with a fullness of emotion devoid of sentimentality. The beauty of the language makes us believe. The lump in our throats makes us believe." — The Nashville Tennessean

"Brilliant diamond-hard fiction, heart wrenching, tough and tender." —Los Angeles Times Book Review

"The canvas is broad, the action complex but even minor characters quicken to life in this memorable, beautifully written novel ... As fast paced and compulsively readable as a thriller, this novel never overlooks the gentler pleasure of living on the land, falling in love, raising a family. Stunning sensory images sear scenes on the mind's eye. Giardina (Good King Harry() has written one of those rare books that portrays a small world with impeccable clarity while telling an exciting story in vigorous, elegant prose." —Publishers Weekly

"This is the gripping story of a real conflict. . . . Denise Giardina tells the miners' stirring story with a fierceness and passion. This is a fine, moving book." —Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard

"If we are very lucky, every few years there arrives a novel that is so moving, so instantly successful . . . that it towers high over much else that is being published. Storming Heaven is that novel." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"An excellent book, full of fine observations and vivid characters . . . Giardina is a gifted writer." —Chicago Tribune

"Giardina has taken a little-known event in American history and woven a beautiful and dramatic story into it. Not to be missed." —Library Journal

Storming Heaven won the 1987 Weatherford Award and was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and a New Authors selection of the Quality Paperback Book Club.

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