FRIENDLY CORRESPONDENCE Friends of the Courtright Memorial Library September 10, 2009
Common Book for 2009-2010 Strange as this Weather Has Been By Ann Pancake Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:30 p.m. Cowan Hall Book Signing and Reception immediately following at Courtright Memorial Library
About the Book
Strange As This Weather Has Been features a West Virginian town in the midst of the latest coal boom, and plagued by the mountaintop removal strip mining that is ruining what is left of their mountain life. As the mine turns the mountains to dust and wastewater, workers struggle with layoffs and children find adventure in the blasted moonscape craters. And down below, the hollow’s inhabitants live with the constant threat of a black flood that could wash out their world without notice. This story of lives suspended by danger is delivered through the perspectives of several members of one family—a couple and their four children—with a particular focus on fifteen-year-old Bant and her mother, Lace. Working at a “scab” motel, Bant becomes involved with a young miner while her mother contemplates joining the fight against the mine owners. As domestic conflicts escalate, the children are pushed more and Continued on page 2
Information About the Author Ann Pancake grew up in Romney and Summersville, WV. Her first novel, Strange As This Weather Has Been (Counterpoint 2007), features a southern West Virginia family devastated by mountaintop removal mining. Based on interviews and real events, the novel was one of Kirkus Review's Top Ten Fiction Books of 2007. It won the 2007 Weatherford Award,
and was a finalist for the 2008 Orion Book Award. Pancake's collection of short stories, Given Ground, won the 2000 Bakeless award, and she has also received a Whiting Award, an NEA Grant, a Pushcart Prize, and creative writing fellowships from the states of Washington, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Her Continued on page 2