Book; Horse Shoe Bottoms

[dazbt]

I've just started reading a novel called 'Horse Shoe Bottoms' written by Tom Tippett, it relates to the start of coal mining in the Illinois region of Kickapoo Creek. I was given the book as a gift from a friend who originated from the relatively tiny Yorkshire mining village that I now live in, but she chose some many years ago to forsake her homeland to emigrate to some place I believe is called Texas (I'm not quite sure where that is, but I believe it's some sort of colonial offshoot of Mexico). One of the reasons that she she sent me the book is that the author Tom Tippett has very knowledgeably written it around factual history, including in it the 'character' names of many of the original colliers, men who had left their coalmining jobs in England in an attempt to establish a betterment of themselves in a relatively new country of greater opportunity, these are the family names of people who were my workmates here in Yorkshire and many whom are are still my neighbours. These are the families of coal mining descendants that historically followed the naturally itinerant life of English 19th Century colliers, men and their families who had to frequently uproot their families and follow the 'way' of coalmining prosperity. I haven't read halfway through the book yet, but I find it extremely interesting that these same coalmining family names although diversified by thousands of miles, different countries and supposedly surrounded by differing cultures, actually ended up as victims and more importantly, the same victims of manipulation, of coal owners, commerce and ultimately avarice ....... even, the victims of the original coalowners who encouraged, accomodated, accepted, appreciated and took advantage in some small way of their affinity to coalmining and wish to create a better life for their families.
............................. reccomended, even without having yet read it all the way through yet.