From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sparrow comes “historical fiction that feels uncomfortably relevant today” (Kirkus Reviews) about “America’s Joan of Arc”–the courageous woman who started a rebellion by leading a strike against the largest copper mining company in the world. In July 1913, twenty-five-year-old Annie Clements has seen enough of the world to know that it’s … the world to know that it’s unfair. She’s spent her whole life in the mining town of Calumet, Michigan, where men risk their lives for meager salaries–and have barely enough to put food on the table for their families. The women labor in the houses of the elite, and send their husbands and sons deep underground each day, dreading the fateful call of the company man telling them their loved ones aren’t coming home. So, when Annie decides to stand up for the entire town of Calumet, nearly everyone believes she may have taken on more than she is prepared to handle.
Yet as Annie struggles to improve the future of her town, her husband becomes increasingly frustrated with her growing independence. She faces the threat of prison while also discovering a forbidden love. On her fierce quest for justice, Annie will see just how much she is willing to sacrifice for the families of Calumet.
From one of the most versatile writers in contemporary fiction, this novel is an authentic and moving historical portrait of the lives of the crucial men and women of the early labor movement “with an important message that will resonate with contemporary readers” (Booklist).
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This novel takes place in Calumet Michigan in 1913. At this time, Calumet had the largest and most profitable copper mines in the US. Workers risked their lives every day underground with frequent deaths and injuries. The workers rent their homes from the company and shop in the company store and even have to buy their own gloves and shovels to work with. As the working population of the mines live a meager existence, the stock holders and mine managers are living the high life – trips to Europe, large homes and sumptuous food. They feel like they are doing the workers – many of them immigrants – a favor by providing them a place to work. It’s no wonder that the promise of the unions have gained popularity with the workers.
This is an emotional novel about the workers who struggled with mistreatment by the rich owners and the people’s involvement in the early labor movement in US work places. The strikes caused violence and upset in the strikers lives as they had to decide whether to continue their strike or give in to the owner’s demands.
Annie Clements was a real person who led the strike at the copper mines in the years before WWI. She was a real inspiration who only wanted the betterment of the working conditions to help families. “What the union wants is simple. Eight hours for work. Eight hours for sleep. Eight hours for families to be together.”
Some books are so good it’s hard to write a review to do them justice, this is one of those books. I do not get emotional often while reading a book but this was tore at my heart for all of the injustice and inhumanity that the miners and their families had to endure. A final tragedy that involved the deaths of 70+ children brought tears to my eyes.
The book takes place in Calumet, Michigan which, in 1913, had the largest copper producing mines in the United States, more than the mines in Colorado and others out West. Located on the shores of Lake Superior it was an ideal shipping location.
Much of the focus of this novel is on the November 1913 strike and Annie Clements, called Big Annie because of her tall stature, who was the organizer and leader of the strike. They were striking for an 8 hour day, 5 days a week, a small raise in pay along with safer working conditions. She started a Women’s Auxiliary which sewed white dresses for women and children who marched in the strike parade. A photographer, Michael Sweeney in the novel, took photos of the parade which were run in state and national newspapers.
The general manager of Calumet & Hecla was James MacNaughton, a cheerless, selfish man who refused to listen to any talk of negotiations with the union. He felt as though the men were lucky to have a job. Many of the miners were immigrants, for which he held little respect. Even when the Governor of Michigan, Woodbridge Ferris, sent his representative to try and reason with MacNaughton, he wouldn’t even let him in his office.
Daily strike parades were made nearly impossible when a blizzard of historic proportions hit the town and surrounding areas. When the union still persisted, MacNaughton brought in “strike breakers” that beat the protestors and broke windows and ramsaked union houses.
Ms. Russell’s writing is so descriptive I could almost feel the freezing cold and picture the shivering strikers. Her descriptions of the harsh winters in this area are enough to make me cold even as our temperatures are now in the 80’s.
There are so many incredible characters in this novel that I can’t list them all. One of the paragraph’s in the author’s notes really stuck with me that I will share with you “A strike is a collective action . . . . .that said, the central role of women in the 1913 copper strike and in the labor movement in general was remarkable and has been underrepresented in most historical accounts”. Most of the characters are based on actual individuals while others are a composite of several. Most historical references are discussed in the Author’s Notes.
This book is a quick read because of the wonderful flow of the writing and it’s well developed characters. I have been online reading articles and looking at photos from the strike as I can’t get this story out of my head.
I highly recommend this book for lovers of great literature and particularly historical fiction. Ms. Russell has written another stellar novel for us to embrace.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
A fantastic work of historical fiction about the women-led strike at copper mines in Michigan’s copper country in the Upper Peninsula. Very moving about the origins of organized labor and the role of women in this undersung story.
A tragic part of history is brought to life in this vividly detailed historical novel. Written from multiple points of view, this page turner covers the events that unfolded in Michigan’s small Upper Peninsula town of Calumet resulting in the copper strike and the heartbreaking aftermath.
The author used a well researched, fact based framework to build the fascinating and poignant story of Anna Clemenc (Clements) and the people of Calumet during the U.S. labor movement era. Much of which, sadly, is still relevant today.
The copy I read included author’s notes and a Q&A section, which was as interesting as the story itself. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this portion of history and/or women’s history.
Little known part of American history is taught in this excellent historical fuction fiction book.
It is fitting and appropriate to read this moving novel on Labor Day weekend, a time when we celebrate the contributions of the American worker. The Women of the Copper Country is set in Michigan at the beginning of the 20th c., in the copper mines near Lake Superior. This book deals with the struggle between the bosses and the laborers, the struggle for a living wage and dignity vs. profits and greed epitomized by automation and reduction of the workforce.
But the true focus of the novel, as the title says, is on the women, the unsung heroines who wanted “bread and roses”. They marched and sang, but they also worked from before dawn until after dusk. Even when the men and the mines were idle, the women still had to care for children and cook supper and do the laundry and try to organize against injustice. They are the true leaders and the ones who bring change.
Mary Russell has once again written a luminous novel of ordinary humans in extraordinary circumstances. Just as in her best known work, The Sparrow, she captures the heart and soul of her characters and keeps the reader entranced with her fine and lucent writing. Ms. Russell doesn’t write quickly, but she writes so beautifully that each novel is worth the wait.
A flag of courage
I found this an interesting period in history and one which I have never heard much about. The book brings to life the story of a copper miners’ strike in a small Michigan mining town.
The characters in the book are most vividly described and believable. While reading the book I was totally engrossed to the point I felt in the middle of the actions taking place. I can still picture big Anna with the large flagpole in a white dress leading the striker’s parade with Eva at her side.
I especially liked the character of big Anna, Michael and Eva. I loathed the character of Mr. McNaughton while knowing that men such as this do indeed live amongst us. Big Anna was determined and courageous , Eva was sweet and spunky, and Michael made me laugh. Mother Jones was inspiring and Mrs. Bloor was a colorful character with a big heart. Mr. Glass put himself and his business at risk to help the striker’s and to help Anna.
What I found the most interesting is that the women of the town did the most to promote the Union and the strike for better wages and working conditions for their husbands and families. The miners themselves participated for the most part at the insistence of their wives.
It was heartwarming to read how the Union families supported each other through the strike although a town of immigrants with several different languages being spoken. The women stuck together and made sure that everyone was fed and clothed and the dead buried.
The Christmas Eve event at the Italian Hall building was the saddest part of the story. The way it was handled by Mr. McNaughton the general manager of the mining company was deplorable.
One if my favorite parts in the book was when all of Mr. McNaughton’s hired help all quit all at once on Christmas Eve. This small tidbit was karma at its best.
The book was well written and grabbed the essence of the period in history. It was interesting, informative, funny, sad, tragic and heartwarming all in one book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it to others.
Mary Doria Russell’s new novel The Women of the Cooper Country recreates Calumet in 1913 in rich detail, drawing on actual people and events.
Called the Paris of the North, Calumet had grown into a modern town, built by the wealth from the Calumet & Hecla copper mine. But profit-driven capitalism meant management rejected workers demands for a shorter workday, a living wage, and safe work conditions. A new drill allowed a miner to work alone instead of in pairs. It was cost-saving but put the men at higher risk.
The workers debated unionizing. An unusual labor leader arose, Annie Clements, a miner’s wife born in Calumet to Slovakian immigrants. She had seen too many families with maimed men and boys, too many funerals.
What is the price of copper? It was men’s limbs and lives. It was men too tired to live, self-medicating with drink. It was widows and orphaned children. If the men would not organize, the women would lead the way.
Journalists made Annie the Joan of Arc of America.
Annie is helped by Eva, who over the nine months of the strike grows from a dreamy girl to a woman. Nationally known union organizers come to help, including ‘the miner’s angel’ Mother Jones and the Socialist labor organizer Ella Bloor.
The mine is under the management of John McNaughton, and Russell’s portrait of him as a cold-hearted capitalist fixated on the bottom line is chilling. McNaughton is a xenophobe whose anti-immigrant slant hardens his heart even more. In his view, Europe is gleefully exporting its ‘wretched refuse’ to America, and Washington has done nothing to stop the continual labor strikes across the nation. It won’t happen here, he vows.
The novel had a slow start for me but picked up later. At times, I felt some distance from the events. A critical scene is off-screen when the emotional impact would have been greater through Annie’s eyes. The story builds to a horrendous tragedy, describing a real event, with great emotional impact.
The changing role of women and their broadening choices is shown through the characters. And there is romance, from infatuation and unhappy marriages to illicit affairs and true love.
It was interesting to learn more about this slice of Michigan history and the history of unionizing in Michigan.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Russell is an excellent writer who researches her topics and creates a thoroughly believable historical novel. This is a heart wrenching story of miners and strikes bringing a lesser story to the front as we currently deal with the viability of coal mines.
I loved ‘The Women of the Copper Country. Our story takes place in Calumet, Upper Peninsula, Northern Michigan, from July 1913 through the spring of 1914. Calumet is a company town housing 40,000 residents and owned in its entirety, homes, churches, stores and community buildings, by the sole local employer, Calumet & Hecla mining company. The mine had been worked for over half a century by this company, the surface copper ore cleared out long ago and the mine now very deep.
Miners and their families rented their home, paid C&H for the coal used to heat that home 8 or 9 months of the year, hauled water from a company well and purchased all they needed from shoes to groceries and household goods to candles and work-related clothing and supplies from the company store. Any traveling to and from the town they did had to be on the company train. The last thing C&H and their efficient – and heartless -manager James MacNaughton wanted in Calumet was a union. They liked their employees isolated from the world, the news, and other miners. Adding to that physical isolation felt by all of the residents of Calumet was the fact that it was peopled by refugees with 33 different native languages – Swedes, Finns, Danes, Norwegians, Poles, Russians, Czechs, and Italians, etc., many who had no common language with their co-workers and neighbors. Occasionally even a husband and wife didn’t share a common language. Scho0ling for the children didn’t include much in the way of language arts except what the family chose to teach them at home but persons who could read were not rare. There were books but often not in a language that was useful. Those with more than one language were often called upon to translate.
In most families, the girls were married by 14 or 15 and the boys were in the mine beside or replacing their fathers even younger. When a miner died on the job – and one a week did just that – their family was immediately homeless and without any sort of support. Many boys had no choice but to take their father’s place at the mine to support their families.
The Union was interested in helping the miners at the C&H copper mine, but the timing was bad. The world was on the verge of war. The open-pit copper mines in Arizona and Montana were keeping the price of copper lower than C&H was comfortable with as the Calumet mine was very deep therefore it required more expense to bring the ore up. Betting on the war, they had been stockpiling copper for months, waiting for the price to increase significantly. It would be many many months before a strike would affect the stockholders of C&H. And the community was dirt poor – most wouldn’t have enough set back to miss a paycheck for more than a week or two, to pay the rent and feed the children. But the Union hadn’t counted on the drive and enthusiasm of Big Annie.
You’re going to love Big Annie, twenty-five and with no quit button. Her husband was opposed to the union on general principles, a taciturn man without many saving graces. Though they had been married about ten years, they had no children, so Annie Klobuchar Clements was ‘mother’ to those without one of their own. Everyone in Calumet knew her- at six foot three inches she was hard to miss- and most adored her. And we get to spend time with Mother Jones, Ella Bloor, and Jane Addams, more women who don’t quit.
And you are going to love Big Annie’s ‘kids’, her friends, her ‘family’. It is remarkable what she and that community, calling themselves the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Western Federation of Miners, can accomplish when push comes to shove.
And you are going to appreciate Charlie Miller, representing the Western Federation of Miners. And Michael Sweeney, the freelance photographer who brings their story to the world. And there are times you are going to weep.
This is a story that needed to be told. Mary Doria Russell in her Notes tells us what is based on fact, and what is the compilation of several persons, and who is a gift from her imagination. I am very much pleased to recommend this historical novel to friends and family. Ms. Russell is an author I am grateful to have ‘met’ and will follow. Her way with a story is exhilarating.
I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Mary Doria Russell, and Atria Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
The determination and power of women who literally had none in the 1900’s is one of the themes in THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY.
Annie Clements had always been someone who helped others. Being a miner’s wife she knew how they and their families could always use help in one way or another.
Because of the need, Annie banded together with the wives of the copper miners to stop the unsafe conditions in the copper mines and the deaths of loved ones by trying to get the miners to join the union.
The other and main theme was the strike called by the miners so the company would recognize the union and get better working conditions.
Annie and the other wives want the men to join the union so they can ask for shorter days and more pay for their dangerous, unhealthful work that only makes the owners of the mines rich.
We follow Annie and the families as they prepare to strike to get what they need for their families.
We get to see the personal side of this community, share in their sorrows and worries, see how they suffer at the hands of company owners who won’t give into union demands, and see how they come together to help one another in times of need.
Most of the characters were easy to like and to relate to. Some were despicable.
If you are a fan of historical fiction, women’s fiction, and learning about the lifestyle and hardships in the early 1900’s both personal and work-wise, THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY will be a book you will want to read.
This book brought to light for me another not very well-known historical event about the plight of the copper miners and their families in Calumet, Michigan. All isn’t pleasant especially when the strikebreakers come on the scene.
A good book always has me looking up more information about events taking place in the story line, and THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY is no exception.
Dr. Russell’s thorough, in-depth research brought the reader into the town and homes of the Calumet families. 4/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.