Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh

I am now on to a novel that, interestingly has this on the cover: "Effortlessly haunting...like Richard Russo's Empire Falls...utterly, entrancingly alive on the page" (from the NY Times). I guess if I liked my last novel, I better like this one. It takes place in the 1940s in a Pennsylvania mining town and features the Novak family. Specifically, Italian Rose Novak who broke with tradition by marrying a Polish man, who happens to die in the book's first chapter. Following that, the story is about Rose and her five children as they struggle through the years that follow. I look forward to this one as the author has consistently written acclaimed novels. Her first - Mrs. Kimble - won the PEN/Hemingway Award. I'll let you know.

Update:  So I finished Baker Towers - it was really good! I wasn't thrilled about the ending - it just seemed to end sort of abruptly. Other than that, however, it was a quick, enjoyable read. I think anyone who grew up in small towns - especially small mining towns - will appreciate it. Interesting too was the description of this town (based, I'm sure on towns like it) made up of a mishmash of ethnic groups - Polish, Italian, Irish etc. - separated into ethnic "districts" after WWII. By the end of the book - about a 25 year span - the groups had all become interwoven and those invisible yet obvious lines once drawn, were no longer noticeable. I can't imagine living the life of a coal miner nor a coal miners daughter or wife. The lifespan itself is deplorable just with breathing all that coal dust, not to mention the risks of collapse that the miners dealt with every day. Anyway another recommended book.