After the Angel Mill — Carol Bruneau

This linked collection chronicles four generations of women in a Cape Breton family, women who represent the unsung multitude who have struggled through the years to make homes and keep families clothed and fed, while the men went down into the mines. The stories lay bare the grief and disappointments ― as well as the stoical sense of humour ― of working-class women living in an economically-deprived but fiercely cohesive community. Always these characters long for something better, their hopes and dreams tempered with grim acceptance, and a bred-in-the-bone will to survive.