As soon as I heard this book was based on true events, I was in. I love historical fiction and I love it even more when there is an actual event a story is centered around.
Ella May Wiggins is twenty-nine years old, a mother of four young children, making only nine dollars a week for the seventy-two hours she works at a cotton mill. She lives in Stumptown along with the poor Negroes and her husband has come and gone many times.
When an opportunity comes along for her to join the union and perhaps make a better life for herself, she takes it. This decision impacts the rest of her (short) life.
Cash tells Ella's story in a variety of perspectives, really fleshing out the many different aspects of what she was a part of. I found myself googling Ella May Wiggins and Loray Mill Strike after I finished this book, my interest piqued by this fantastic novel.
Although I wished for a happy ending to this story, I appreciated Cash's choice to allow readers to see Ella's children after they had grown up. Part of this novel is written as Lily, Ella's oldest daughter, writes to her nephew Edwin about what happened to Ella and her children.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for my review. All opinions expressed are, as always, my own.
1 comment:
I wish all real-life stories had happy endings, but sadly that isn't the way the world works, and it makes for depressing reading at times. I still love reading these kinds of books though - they help me see the truths of the world that I am often unaware of.
Thanks for being a part of the tour!
Post a Comment