Serving as midwives to a small mining town in prewar Appalachia, Elizabeth and her mother share in the intimate details of the lives, loves, and losses of every family in the region, but none of their neighbors know their own secrets, dreams, and desires--including the mystery of Elizabeth's father's identity or of Elizabeth's desperate yearning for her own child. A first novel. Reprint.

Sixteen-year-old Willa, living in a Depression-era West Virginia mining town, works hard to help her family, experiences love and friendship, and finds an outlet for her writing when her family becomes part of the Arthurdale, West Virginia, community supported by Eleanor Roosevelt.Sixteen-year-old Willa, living in Depression-era West Virginia, works to help her family, and finds an outlet for her writing when her family becomes part of the Arthurdale, West Virginia, community supported by Eleanor Roosevelt.