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Hardcastle

by John Yount

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"From now on, there are bound to be two classics of the Great Depression--The Grapes of Wrath and Hardcastle." --Los Angeles Times In 1931 William Music is making his way back home to Virginia when he hops off a freight train in Switch County, Kentucky, to find something to eat. For eleven cents--all the money in his pocket--he buys a soda bottle's worth of moonshine. Farther down the road, he takes two turnips and a handful of string beans from a kitchen garden and beds down for the night in a haystack. It is still dark out when he wakes up to a dog licking his forehead and a man pointing a pistol in his face. Despite the awkward introduction, Music and Regus Bone are soon friends. Bone is a guard at Hardcastle Coal Co., whose owner will do anything to keep his employees from unionizing. For the irresistible wage of three dollars a day, Music--outfitted with an ancient, misfiring revolver and a holster made from a feed sack--hires on as a watchman despite his queasy feelings about the job. His attraction to the young widow of a miner killed by a former guard only deepens his discomfort, and when he and Bone catch a pair of union organizers, they make a decision that will change their lives and Switch County forever. Inspired by real events, Hardcastle is a stirring tribute to the power of friendship and family in a time and place in which the price of integrity is more than a man on his own can bear.… (more)
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Impressive story of a young Virginian who after drifting across the country during the Depression finds himself in coal-mining territory in Kentucky, where he ends up as a mine guard in the midst of unrest and unionization attempts. Yount succeeds in creating a unforgettably oppressive and realistic atmosphere and a few characters to go along with it. However, unlike its forebearers, there is not much of an ephiphany at the end, and while perhaps more realistic, the book's ending is a bit of a letdown. ( )
  datrappert | Feb 27, 2023 |
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"From now on, there are bound to be two classics of the Great Depression--The Grapes of Wrath and Hardcastle." --Los Angeles Times In 1931 William Music is making his way back home to Virginia when he hops off a freight train in Switch County, Kentucky, to find something to eat. For eleven cents--all the money in his pocket--he buys a soda bottle's worth of moonshine. Farther down the road, he takes two turnips and a handful of string beans from a kitchen garden and beds down for the night in a haystack. It is still dark out when he wakes up to a dog licking his forehead and a man pointing a pistol in his face. Despite the awkward introduction, Music and Regus Bone are soon friends. Bone is a guard at Hardcastle Coal Co., whose owner will do anything to keep his employees from unionizing. For the irresistible wage of three dollars a day, Music--outfitted with an ancient, misfiring revolver and a holster made from a feed sack--hires on as a watchman despite his queasy feelings about the job. His attraction to the young widow of a miner killed by a former guard only deepens his discomfort, and when he and Bone catch a pair of union organizers, they make a decision that will change their lives and Switch County forever. Inspired by real events, Hardcastle is a stirring tribute to the power of friendship and family in a time and place in which the price of integrity is more than a man on his own can bear.

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Yount's work is similar in many respects to that of John Steinbeck. Yet he was, and sadly remains, so little known, let alone acknowledged. He does not appear even to merit a Wiki entry - nothing short of disgraceful, IMHO.
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