This book tells the story of Keller Hayes, a young man living in a small mining town in Alabama, who has to learn how to make his way in a harsh world during a series of life changing events. Through marriage, childbirth, poverty, and war, Keller must make sense of his life while understanding that suffering and loss are usually inescapable. The cold and damp of the camp seem to soak into each of the characters so that you feel his or her burden seperately and with acute empathy. Coming away from this novel I could almost smell the coal dust in my clothes and sense the indestructable tie that bind one family to another. Covington has the ability to transport the reader into her world and make you never want to leave.