To the Bright and Shining Sun

by James Lee Burke

Book Overview

Not only is Perry Woodson Hatfield James the "heir" to the legacies of the James brothers and the feuding Hatfield clan. He is coming of age in the despair-sodden world of moonshine whiskey in easter Kentucky's mining country in the early 1960s. The mine owners and the union are at war, the striking miners and the company scabs are at war, and Pett must somehow survive. At sixteen years old, Perry sets himself three tasks: avenge his father's murder;...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786889683
• ISBN13: 9780786889686
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Gritty tale of a young Kentucky miner

One of Burke's earlier novels, is stark and unrelenting in it's honest depiction of the plight of a young Kentucky miner. I did not feel the story quite as fully realized as the later Dave Robicheaux detective novels, but it was haunting and evocative all the same.The young miner, age 17, has been reared in the Cumberland Gap area of Kentucky. Raised in stark beauty and crushing poverty, he yearns for something more. I won't ruin the story by giving away too much, but there is alot of heartache then ultimate triumph.Nothing candy-coated with Burke. We are made to feel the loss of loved ones, the terrible violence of the mines, the hard-scrabble existance and the brief, happy moments in an otherwise dark tale. Not light reading, this slim volume will make you pause and reflect.