Soot and Sealing Wax

About this book

In the isolated Appalachian mining town of Oakhaven in 1893, a brutal winter brings slashing wages and rising tensions. The town's rigid social hierarchy is documented and manipulated through letters, secret diaries, and intercepted telegrams. Tobias, a maimed teenage breaker boy, dreams of escaping the suffocating traditions of his class. Winifred, the sheltered daughter of the ruthless mine owner, begins to document the grotesque realities outside her mansion. Declan, a radicalized Irish immigrant, smuggles union pamphlets to organize a strike. Meanwhile, the town's opium-addicted postmistress intercepts their communications, pulling strings from the shadows for her own survival. When the children inadvertently uncover a conspiracy regarding an engineered mine collapse designed for insurance fraud, they must bypass the post office's watchful eyes to warn the workers. As armed Pinkerton detectives descend on Oakhaven to violently quash the strike, the paper trail becomes a matter of life and death, culminating in a devastating clash between corporate greed, human dignity, and the loss of innocence.

Book details

Genres:

Historical Fiction, Thriller, Drama

Language:

en

Published:

2026-06-02

Content rating:

R