Of My Hand's Own Weaving

by Renee Burch 

A new novel in the burgeoning new genre called Book Club Fiction 

Fenced in by the Appalachian hills and the Great Depression, Charlotte Simpson is on the brink of womanhood with only two career choices: she can accept the role of a coal miner's wife—with all the uncertainty and heartache that promises—or she can stand alone, chancing her support to only the lowest paying odd jobs.  Charlotte is determined to carve a life for herself outside these two options.  She is up against not only her poverty, poor education, and the general prejudice against her gender and origin, but she is also held back by her love for a miner, Joe Elliott—an activist bent on bringing reform to the hills he loves, a man firmly entrenched in his home and job. This is not only a story of a young woman’s determination to shape her own future, but a hard-knock love story that explores what love can and cannot endure. 

 

For easiest ordering, go to www.lulu.com. Also available at Amazon.com in November 2009.

 

 

 

 

A note from the author

An alternate title for this story was Fetters, based on a chapter heading that George Eliot used in her book Middlemarch.  In this heading, one gentleman says “Our deeds are fetters that we forge ourselves” and the other replies, “Ay, truly, but I think it is the world that brings the iron.”  The world is all iron for Charlotte.  Her story was inspired by a true statistic that fascinated me: significant numbers of young women in coal mining communities of the 1930s opted to decline a "mining" marriage, and chose instead a sort of socio-economic limbo.  How incredible that the only control these women had over their futures was to keep them from happening!  Immediately a strong character came to my mind, a young woman unwilling to let externals determine her fate, and I wondered what would happen to her while she fought against such a stacked deck—especially if time and trouble ate away at her hope.  In the long run, would her choices help her or hurt her?  And how would that shape her character?  I hope you come to love Charlotte as much as I do.

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