It is 1917 and the United States is recovering from the costly first World War. Inflation hits hard, especially in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Long work days for low pay provided barely enough to scrape by before, but now families are forced to make difficult decisions. What groceries are optional? Does Mama really need cream in her coffee? Probably not. Is a nine-year-old boy too young to quit school and work full-time in the mines? Maybe... maybe not.
In this coming-of-age story, Katie's brother Wasyl sees his widowed mother struggling to buy food and pay bills. He wants to get a job to help her and his sisters, but Mama insists that he not work in the mines as so many other boys his age are doing. He wishes he had a father to guide him through the harsh realities of growing up in coal country, but Wasyl's father is a big secret that no one ever discusses. The only thing Wasyl knows about his father is what Mama always says, "the mines killed him." Then one day the truth comes out in the most traumatic way. There is so much he doesn't understand but forced to face the truth, Wasyl wrestles with the question: Is it kinder to keep secrets, or to deal with them honestly and openly even if it hurts? Wasyl is about to find out.
