A Coal Miner’s Bride: Explore America’s past in diary of Anetka Kaminska
By PHOENIX CARLISLE | Cover courtesy of Scholastic
Tyler Childers has a song that will always remind me of a young adult novel that shaped my reading today. “Coal” is a song about the fight for survival as a coal miner and the sacrifices made by himself and his wife, and how betrayed he feels through the life he was given.
The rock that keeps our country going, buried a long way under the deep, dark ground that we often forget is still a sacrifice for families today. Granted a lesser sacrifice then, let’s say, the sacrifices given by those made by the men in the ground scraping for pay and their immigrant wives taking care of kids they didn’t birth in the late 19th century.
It is ultimately the story of Anetka Kaminska, a young Polish girl who comes to America hoping for a better life to raise three stepdaughters and to take care of her coal miner husband. A Coal Miner’s Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska, Lattimer, Pennsylvania, 1896 is part of the Dear America series that shows the ultimate fictional sacrifice, told through a diary-like format. Though told through the viewpoint of a dedicated woman, the story reveals the experience of thousands of women who made the sacrifice and how it impacts our country now.
Meet Anetka, a 13-year-old Polish girl who comes to America as a promised bride to a Pennsylvania coal miner, a sturdy match made by her father who works alongside Stanley Gawrych, who lost his wife after his third daughter was born. Through the waves of the Atlantic, the smog of Pennsylvania, and the hardships of motherhood, Anetka will survive it all. No union man, coal mining thief or wandering soldier can prevent her from the strength that comes from being a coal miner’s bride. Her fascinating diary entries give readers a personal glimpse into what life was like in a coal-mining town during a tumultuous time in our country’s past.
One of the most important things I look for in a novel is the ratio of timeline and progression, especially in a historical context, which is why I loved this book as much as I did and still do. Since it is in a diary format, the progression of the book flows as if a young teen is writing it.
There are days she “skips” or when she doesn’t have time to write long entries, which flows the book in a pace that gets to the important events without dragging out minor scenes. The pacing of the novel works well with the diary style yet what works better is the personal elements. Reading this book as a young teen gave me deeper levels of empathy with Anetka, as well as seeing her switch between the mother-wife role and the teen girl who gets annoyed by her brother and begins secretly crushing on Leon, the wandering soldier who just happens to be there when she is in the most trouble.
This is what the Dear America series is about. It takes fictional stories of girls during momentous historical events, allowing younger readers to truly understand the depth of these events through everyday people who experienced them.
Of course, I can’t do a review without talking about the romance. Thinking back to Leon and Anetka, I still blush at how sweet their moments were. He was so patient with her. Although she comes to America to marry the older miner, Stanley, he dies early in the novel, leaving Anetka to raise three stepdaughters and help her brother navigate the world with her aging father. Leon is an angel to her and the girls, which softens Anetka’s heart when she finds it is easier to accept the love given rather than find it under the ground.
Unfortunately I do understand the concern: a 13-year-old girl marrying a much older man in the 1800’s. To put your mind at ease, it is talked about throughout the book that this is a concern of many characters. Anetka brings up her age to her father as a way of defense when she is uncertain of her new life that she was almost forced into. This was a historical reality for many girls to gain better lives for themselves in the new world of America and it is taken in a historical context. In the series, the books center around younger teenage girls for that sense of perspective so if this novel doesn’t suit your parenting boundaries, don’t hesitate to open a historical conversation with your young reader or explore the other books in the series to find one that works better.
Give your child a real way to emotionally connect throughout the centuries. A Coal Miner’s Brideby Susan C. Bartolleti is an eye-opener to the harsh realities of the coal industry in 19th century America. Bartolleti did a wonderful job working with as much historical evidence as possible to only tell the story as it was. She incorporates history, the Polish language and even photographs to illustrate what life what like. It is a fantastic, personal historical novel that explores love, duty and the ways of the world as a young teen during that time in history.
