Life is incredibly hard for all the immigrant families who work in the mine, but harder still for Hannah’s – her father recently killed in the mine, her mother nearly dead from giving birth to the latest child. Hanna defies all convention and passes herself off as a boy to get into the mine that is their only real hope of salvation. Common wisdom is that women are bad luck in a mine, so when her secret is discovered, the superstitious miners are furious. Will she survive this too? Author Diana Vazquez paints a gritty portrait of the bleak mining shanty town and the lives of the people who live there. But it is the indomitable spirit of her unsentimental, blunt, and fearless heroine that will remain memorable to all who encounter her.
- ISBN: 9781550501490
- Author: Vazquez, Diana
- Published: 1999 , Coteau Books
- Themes: 19th Century, Death and dying, Difficult discussions, Family life, growing up, Mines and mining, Strong female protagonist
- Descriptors: Canada, Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14)
- No. of pages: 148