Books with title In Coal Country

In the summer of 1984, the war in Vietnam came home to Sam Hughes, whose father was killed there before she was born. The soldier-boy in the picture never changed. In a way that made him dependable. But he seemed so innocent. "Astronauts have been to the moon,” she blurted out to the picture. “You missed Watergate. I was in the second grade.” She stared at the picture, squinting her eyes, as if she expected it to come to life. But Dwayne had died with his secrets. Emmett was walking around with his. Anyone who survived Vietnam seemed to regard it as something personal and embarrassing. Granddad had said they were embarrassed that they were still alive. “I guess you’re not embarrassed,” she said to the picture.

Soul Country is a novel exploring the relationships and responses of three young people to each other, to their differing cultures, to the love they have for their ‘soul country’ and the effects that these environments ultimately have on their lives. The story is told by twenty-one-year-old Jenna Yates. She is a talented and passionate sculpture student, driven by a ferocious storm to an empty house on a spectacular part of the SA coast. Her boy friend has just dumped her and she is having difficulties with her family. Jenna repairs storm damage to the house, but rejected and undecided about her future, can’t bring herself to leave a house which has become a haven despite veiled threats from a local man she distrusts.She finds a 50 year old Mawson station, Antarctic Diary which has a surprising connection with her grandfather, and becomes fascinated by it.Then, by chance makes a discovery that will change lives forever.Who is hiding close by in a derelict house, and why? Four characters face, or have faced life-threatening experiences in their own unique environments...countries at war, the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, and the South Australian coastal valley where Jenna is now living. But beneath their idyllically beautiful surfaces all are extremely dangerous and for some, deadly.