Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
Catharine "Katie" McCafferty has grown up in the midst of the Pennsylvania coal mining community. The owners of the coal mines can pretty much run the lives of those that rely on the mines for their livelihood. If the head of the household becomes injured due to safety issues in the mines, the remaining family members must come together to pay the rent or they will lose their home.
Many of the miners are paid in scrip, which is only good at the company-owned store. Struggling is a way of life. But Katie's family and neighbors have always gotten by and relied on each other.
When Katie's father is injured at work and loses the use of his legs, Katie takes it upon herself to help her family stay afloat. Her mother secures her a temporary domestic help job for a local bachelor. When that job ends, she finds herself traveling to a large estate to become live-in help. It's while Katie works for the Pardee family that she becomes entangled in the intrigue and secret Irish societies determined to help those drafted into the Army by backhanded means.
The Molly Maguires are just one of these organizations that fight for the rights of the second-class miners. The members are willing to destroy rail lines and scarify lives for the good of the larger whole. Katie becomes scared for her long-time friend, Con, who has taken up with the group and fears for his life. She befriends the stable boy at Pardee's estate and the two try to sidetrack the horrible plot to blow up the tracks.
CALL ME KATE was a fascinating look at the time period of the early drafts for the Civil War. It focuses on a specific area of the country and the conflict that arose among the different classes and ethnicities. Being from Pennsylvania, I could picture many of the places that were referenced and got a brief history lesson on a time period that I wasn't very familiar with. For anyone interested in getting some history with their fiction, CALL ME KATE is a good book to add to your choices.
Catharine "Katie" McCafferty has grown up in the midst of the Pennsylvania coal mining community. The owners of the coal mines can pretty much run the lives of those that rely on the mines for their livelihood. If the head of the household becomes injured due to safety issues in the mines, the remaining family members must come together to pay the rent or they will lose their home.
Many of the miners are paid in scrip, which is only good at the company-owned store. Struggling is a way of life. But Katie's family and neighbors have always gotten by and relied on each other.
When Katie's father is injured at work and loses the use of his legs, Katie takes it upon herself to help her family stay afloat. Her mother secures her a temporary domestic help job for a local bachelor. When that job ends, she finds herself traveling to a large estate to become live-in help. It's while Katie works for the Pardee family that she becomes entangled in the intrigue and secret Irish societies determined to help those drafted into the Army by backhanded means.
The Molly Maguires are just one of these organizations that fight for the rights of the second-class miners. The members are willing to destroy rail lines and scarify lives for the good of the larger whole. Katie becomes scared for her long-time friend, Con, who has taken up with the group and fears for his life. She befriends the stable boy at Pardee's estate and the two try to sidetrack the horrible plot to blow up the tracks.
CALL ME KATE was a fascinating look at the time period of the early drafts for the Civil War. It focuses on a specific area of the country and the conflict that arose among the different classes and ethnicities. Being from Pennsylvania, I could picture many of the places that were referenced and got a brief history lesson on a time period that I wasn't very familiar with. For anyone interested in getting some history with their fiction, CALL ME KATE is a good book to add to your choices.
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