Title: The Women of Copper Country
Author: Mary Doria Russell
Publication: August 6, 2019
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 352

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

In July 1913, twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements had seen enough of the world to know that it was unfair. She’s spent her whole life in the copper-mining town of Calumet, Michigan where men risk their lives for meager salaries—and had barely enough to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. 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 aren’t coming home. When Annie decides to stand up for herself, and the entire town of Calumet, nearly everyone believes she may have taken on more than she is prepared to handle.

In Annie’s hands lie the miners’ fortunes and their health, her husband’s wrath over her growing independence, and her own reputation as she faces the threat of prison and discovers a forbidden love. On her fierce quest for justice, Annie will discover just how much she is willing to sacrifice for her own independence and 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 men and women of the early 20th century labor movement, and of a turbulent, violent political landscape that may feel startlingly relevant to today.

REVIEW:

This book came to me as a recommendation several years ago from my Aunt.  I didn’t actively look for it but one day I was shopping at my local hometown bookstore and lo and behold there it was sitting on the shelf.  I snatched that bad boy up and then it sat on my shelf for probably a good 6 years before I just now read it in an effort to clear my shelves.  I knew it was something I wanted to read as my family has vacationed in the area several times as well as it being a historical fiction book about my home state of 

Michigan. 

Big Annie as she is known in town as always towered over everyone, including the men in to.  She worries she will never find a husband till she meets Joe.  A chain of events occur in this copper mining town and things start to come into effect.  Annie starts a women’s auxiliary that starts picketing for better treatment and more fair wages for the men in the copper mines.  Her protesting gains national attention which in turns brings in money but also brings in sometimes bigger issues.  One such issue as her husband does not agree with what she is doing and lets that be known in physical form.  Honestly, I did not like this book.  I liked it enough to finish it because I was committed to it.  I just was not sold on it.  It was a slow start and then it just ended.  No epilogue, no follow up.  I absolutely love historical fiction books so it was weird for me to not enjoy it.   

I will say that this book was highly educational for me.  I knew that there were obviously copper mines in the UP.  My grandmother was born in Painesdale Michigan and her fathers and brothers worked in the mines. What I was unaware of is the treatment, lack of pay as well as the lengths the owners of the mines would go to, to make a profit.  I was unaware of how much the wives and daughters and sisters protested for better everything for the men.  The line that sticks with me is “what is the cost of copper?” Annie starts reading off the mens names who have died, those men are the cost of copper.  That line punched me right in the heart.  That is so true.  The men and their lives were the cost of copper.  If they made it out of the mines there are so many other issues that would arise.  Especially health issues.  My grandmother’s  dad died of black lung from working in the mines. This set the world on fire with fair treatment for the workers.  The end of the story touches on the Christmas Eve disaster that occurred during a children’s Christmas party.  Someone yelled fire and it started a stampede.  53 children died out of the 73 people that perished in it. Let that sink in, to this day no one knows the truth as to what really happened. The book is well researched as the author has a PhD in biological anthropology. I will be passing this book on to my mother to read.