Unquiet Earth (1992)

by Denise Giardina

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"A flawless, fearless, great American story. It cuts a wide path through the worst and the best of what we are." BARBARA KINGSOLVER From the mining shanty towns of West Virginia comes this moving and passionate saga of a family, a community, and a way of life all but gone. In this coal-smudged place, Dillon, Rachel, and Jackie hopelessly intertwined in love and politics live in the shadow of the dying mines and the doomed union movement. Set against the devastation of the Depression, the fearful pulse of a world at war, the dawning hope of the War on Poverty, and, ultimately, the untamable force of nature herself, THE UNQUIET EARTH is a bold and bittersweet story of unforgettable men and women, and the times that made them great.… (more)

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This story spans the period between 1941 and 1990 and examines the daily lives, politics and political landscape surrounding a West Virginia coal mine. I loved this book, probably in part because the era nicely matches my own life span and I've spent the past 20 years in another part of Appalachia. Thankfully, I've never had to watch the geological rape of coal mining but the people, their ways and their problems are all very familiar to me. Giardina is an excellent writer, drawing her characters with depth and compassion. One has the sense that she draws very heavily on her own experiences and so there is an authenticity to the material that adds to the appeal. Recommended. (

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turtlesleap | Jun 29, 2017 |

Compelling story set in the coal fields of West Virginia and Kentucky from the 1930s through the 1990s. Giardina uses several narrators to tell her story of the land and its people. This is a sequel to her novel Storming Heaven. (

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ken1952 | Feb 15, 2012 |

Rachel and Dillon are first cousins, growing up in West Virginia in the 1940's. They are in love, but Rachel realizes what Dillon won't acknowledge--that they cannot live together as man and wife. The story of their lives , and the life of their daughter Jackie, plays out against the devastation of the mountains they love by the coal mining industry over a period of 50 years. Giardina's characters are true and she rarely lapses into comedy- stereotype treatment of "mountain people." The story itself is, predictably, bleak. This is a book that could help convince you of the pointlessness of human existence. (

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turtlesleap | Sep 18, 2009 |

Set against the devastation of the Depression, the fearful pulse of a nation at war, the dawning hope of the War on Poverty, and ultimately, the untamable force of nature herself.
Dillon, a tireless union man like his father, accepts nothing less than total commitment to the cause: RAchel, his cousin and lifelong love, has the courage he wants, but refuses to let him know it:their child, Jackie, a fighting daughter of the mines, understands them both-and her own limitations- only too well. (

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marient | Sep 16, 2007 |

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American Book Award (1993)

Lillian Smith Award (1992)

Weatherford Award (1992)

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1992

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The Unquiet Earth

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"A flawless, fearless, great American story. It cuts a wide path through the worst and the best of what we are." BARBARA KINGSOLVER From the mining shanty towns of West Virginia comes this moving and passionate saga of a family, a community, and a way of life all but gone. In this coal-smudged place, Dillon, Rachel, and Jackie hopelessly intertwined in love and politics live in the shadow of the dying mines and the doomed union movement. Set against the devastation of the Depression, the fearful pulse of a world at war, the dawning hope of the War on Poverty, and, ultimately, the untamable force of nature herself, THE UNQUIET EARTH is a bold and bittersweet story of unforgettable men and women, and the times that made them great.

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