From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sparrow comes âhistorical fiction that feels uncomfortably relevant todayâ (Kirkus Reviews) about âAmericaâs Joan of Arcââthe courageous woman who started a rebellion by leading a strike against the largest copper mining company in the world.
In July 1913, twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements has seen enough of the world to know that itâs unfair. Sheâs spent her whole life in the mining town of Calumet, Michigan, where men risk their lives for meager salariesâand have barely enough to put food on the table for their families. The women labor in the houses of the elite, and send their husbands and sons deep underground each day, dreading the fateful call of the company man telling them their loved ones arenât coming home. So, when Annie decides to stand up for the entire town of Calumet, nearly everyone believes she may have taken on more than she is prepared to handle.
Yet as Annie struggles to improve the future of her town, her husband becomes increasingly frustrated with her growing independence. She faces the threat of prison while also discovering a forbidden love. On her fierce quest for justice, Annie will see just how much she is willing to sacrifice for the families of Calumet.
From one of the most versatile writers in contemporary fiction, this novel is an authentic and moving historical portrait of the lives of the crucial men and women of the early labor movement âwith an important message that will resonate with contemporary readersâ (Booklist).