Tommy down the Pit: A coming of age story set in a North East pit village.
Wendy McArdle
language
(Tyne Bridge Publishing, Feb. 19, 2017)
On the day young Tommy Blake left school he was dreaming of a long, glorious summer, roaming the woods and fields in brilliant sunshine. As soon as he got home, however, his mother dashed all his hopes. The family was poor and needed him to bring in a wage. Like thousands of other boys in the North East he was to start work at the pit.Tommy grows up quickly, making new friends but becoming the target of a vicious bully. His first shift down the pit is terrifying, until he meets the gentle little pony, Stomper, who is to be his workmate. Tommy and Stomper look after each other and become best mates, but all too soon Tommy learns that his time with Stomper is coming to an end. On their last day together Tommy goes down into the deep, dark pit with a very heavy heart, but after a horrifying ordeal he returns a hero.