She’s back! The LCHS is proud to host another “Meet the Author”
event featuring Ms. Jayne M. Booth and her new book in the Rocked
in the Cradle of Coal Series. Book 3 is entitled: From the Mine to
the Mansion: Ann’s Story. The event will be held on July 14th at
1pm at the Nathan Denison House. Come out and hear from Ms. Booth
about her book, the writing process, and the research that went
into it, and pick up a copy for yourself to get signed. Ms. Booth
will also be previewing Rocked in the Cradle of Coal Book 4. This
event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be
available for sale. The Nathan Denison House is located at 35
Dennison Street, Forty-Fort, PA 18704. For questions or info, call
570-823-6244 x3. or email reservations@luzernehistory.org.
About Book 3: At thirteen, as the oldest of five children, Ann
feels an obligation to contribute to her family’s income. She
realizes there is only so much her widowed mother can do alone to
support their family, so Ann bravely
steps into the role of an adult, working full-time in service to a
wealthy family uptown. In 1913, in her Pennsylvania coal town,
quitting school early to help support the family is a common rite
of passage.
Ann has grown up poor, so she knows what it means to sacrifice her
own desires for others. Often, girls of the early 20th century took
whatever menial work they could find to supplement their family’s
income. They cooked, cleaned, did laundry, or took care of other
people’s children. Factories and mills snapped others up as cheap
child labor, because these girls were smaller and quicker than
adults and didn’t need to be paid as much. In the early 20th
century women had very few rights, and female children had
none.
But, in the mansion, Ann meets the class differences and modern
conveniences that separate her family’s shabby neighborhood of
mine-owned company houses and the luxuries her wealthy employers
take for granted. Ann and several other female servants in the
mansion share all the trials and adventures of teenage life and
love as they adjust to their new “big girl” roles. At the same
time, they are experiencing the culture shock of living between
rich versus poor and child versus adult. In the process, Ann
decides that she never wants to be so poor again. In the big house
on the hill, Ann and her new friends find help and support from
unexpected sources. They discover that people everywhere are just
people, and we all must help each other.
