The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (original 1908; edition 2008)

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of the lives of the people of the Kentucky mountains and the way that their lives changed as 'furriners' bring their own notions of law and order and civilisation into the area in the hunt for coal and iron ore. The book was a top seller in 1908 and 1909 and it's easy to see why: Fox's writing is descriptive without being verbose and his tale of warring clans in the mountains is easy to believe. I was a little disappointed with the way Dave's part of the story turned out (I felt Fox had run out of energy at that point), but otherwise thought it was a good read. ( )

Audiobook......A sweet love story and some interesting historical fiction....This novel is set in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, and chronicles the transition of mountain dwellers from a time of little to no contact with the world at large to a time when the search for coal, the expansion of the rail system, and the influx of speculators changed everything. Family feuds and a sweet love story make it enjoyable as a story, and the history is informative, if not surprising. ( )