Whistle in the Dark by Susan Hill Long (review)

Set in 1920s Missouri, this debut novel opens on Clem's last day in attendance at the village school; on the following day, his thirteenth birthday, he joins his father deep underground in the lead mines. Clem's younger sister, Esther, has epilepsy, and the mounting medical bills have made it necessary for Clem to bring home a paycheck. Clem's father is extremely pleased to have Clem following the family tradition of mining; Clem, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with mining and hates it from the first day forward ("There was nothing about the mine that would ever change Clem's first impression: it was a busy little hell straight out of the Bible"). Shortly after his mining tenure begins, Clem inadvertently discovers a classmate, Lindy, and her father running a moonshine still down by the river. An awkward but meaningful friendship begins between Clem and Lindy, and he is in fact skipping work to sell moonshine with Lindy when his little sister dies in her sleep, a turn of events that riddles him with guilt and sends his family down a dark, tragic spiral. This coming-of-age story is eloquently told, and the characters are particularly well crafted; Lindy is the most complex of the lot, particularly as the details of her backstory are revealed. The story never feels episodic or overdrawn despite the multiple plot threads; the events are precisely paced, and the story unfolds naturally. Clem's sense of hopelessness darkens much of the story, but the warm moments—his friendship with Lindy, his affection for his beloved dog Pal, the gentle exchanges between Clem and Esther—are much brighter for it. The happy ending is a bit improbable, but readers who have witnessed Clem's struggles and growth over the course of the novel wouldn't have it any other way. An author's note about the fact behind the fiction is included.