Was there really a Thomas Shitbum in Addiewell, who made the village idiot look bright by comparison? Did 'Thumbs' McGushin, who lost both thumbs in pit accidents, really ever say that he was 'the only man in Stoneyburn who could hook his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets and comb his hair at the same time'? I am totally convinced there was a 'Tam the Bam' who could get a shilling at anybodies door - I've known his like - and, if there never was a 'Glascae Maggie' then there should have been.
These were the tales related to me by my parents who, by their own admission, would never let the truth get in the way of a good story. My aunty Katie related to me the story of how she was exempt from school and sent into service, kicking and screaming, at the tender age of thirteen.
This novel is about the lives of the miners, struggling to survive in the 1920's. My paternal grandfather, Michael McKenna, was evicted from his miner's cottage in 1926 for refusing to return to work after the General Strike. Blacklisted, he never worked again. My mother insisted that an incompetent doctor killed her father, Thomas Curran. She stated that it was his view he was killed because he was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and MI5 had him bumped off. I'll believe anything.
This is the theme running through the book, but the bulk of the story is about the families and friends of these two men.
