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The Holy Ghost and a Shine of Coal
Peggy Konert has penned a coming-of-age novel revolving around 10-year-old June
Ellen, set in late 1940s Arkansas. The defunct coal mining industry creates the tale's
backdrop for spunky June Ellen and her painful struggles with the changing social and
economic milieu post-World War II. Her father has Black Lung Disease. He and Mama
must fend off the mercenary Mr. Mackey's efforts to take over the Shoal Creek Mine-
which would bring the entire rural community to its knees. The mine is a paradox,
killing the miners yet providing their livelihood. Konert's novel is rich in period detail,
with hardscrabble folks as varied as the Ouachita hills and hollows. A reading treasure for
historical fiction bibliophiles.
Ellen, set in late 1940s Arkansas. The defunct coal mining industry creates the tale's
backdrop for spunky June Ellen and her painful struggles with the changing social and
economic milieu post-World War II. Her father has Black Lung Disease. He and Mama
must fend off the mercenary Mr. Mackey's efforts to take over the Shoal Creek Mine-
which would bring the entire rural community to its knees. The mine is a paradox,
killing the miners yet providing their livelihood. Konert's novel is rich in period detail,
with hardscrabble folks as varied as the Ouachita hills and hollows. A reading treasure for
historical fiction bibliophiles.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 10, 2025
2 people want to read
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January 10, 2026
Book Review: The Holy Ghost and A Shine of Coal by Peggy Konert.
If you like novels about girls growing up, try this one.
Are you ready for an enjoyable read about a white girl from the 1940s growing up in coal country in the Arkansas River Valley? You will like this book.
In that time period, many of the mines were played out and owned by individuals who were working to get the last dregs of the coal out, one railroad car at a time, to keep their families and neighbors afloat. Often, the owners of the old mines guaranteed the debt tickets the local stores that sold food and other necessities to their workers, issued to the struggling families when they had no cash for necessities.
The mine owners bought them up, taking a chance that they would eventually sell enough coal to pay off the debt to the store. Their own neighbors and family members tickets were bought by the mill owner and the economy of the area depended on this precarious way of doing things. Think company store but the company is very small, usually just one old already worked mine. At the same time, men of means are coming around buying up the mines, consolidating them, changing the old ways, and leaving communities without work.
It is in one of these places that our hero, June Ellen, aged 10, lives in one of the families struggling along, owning a nearly used-up mine to provide a living for a few households. The work is dangerous and often brings on Black Lung Disease, a killer that has taken over the father of the household.
June Ellen is a feisty girl, full of an adventuresome spirit. She loves Nancy Drew and Dale Evans for their sleuthing abilities and does her best to emulate them while living with her Mama, Daddy, and two-years older sister, who is beginning to think about boys and makeup and reject her little sister June Ellen.
There is also a big brother who does not want to be a miner, so first tries working for a dairy then, out of necessity, goes into the mine, which he hates, and finally joins the armed service as the last years of WWII military activities are winding down at the end of the forties.
June Ellen and the family dog Rex carry out various spying forays to find out important things going on in the neighborhood and town. June Ellen never hesitates to take risks, find out important information, and put up a fight when needed. She is a proud tomboy. We can just imagine that by now she is now a happy old woman somewhere or other, sticking up for America in the ways we are all trying to do ourselves.
She lives the kind of life many of us did in our childhoods. On Halloween, she and her girl pal dress as pirates and enter the costume contest. They trick or treat, even on the hill where the rich people live, though no one but the two of them, among the kids in their neighborhood, dare to go there. For their favorite swear word they say H E Double Toothpicks. I remember it from my own childhood and we used it a lot at domino games at our neighbor's house in the 90s, laughing every time.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Most of the stories are less than three pages, episodes in her interesting and sometimes fraught life.
June Ellen loves their family's mine, despite its dangers, and carries around pieces of shiny coal that remind her of the thousands of years of pressure on the long-ago plants that formed it. She always recalls that it was at that time the major source of heat and power for most people, (as it remains today, while we struggle along trying for cleaner ways to make electricity and advance into burning other fuels for our heat and other uses).
For any of us who loves a book about a great girl and her growing up (remember Lois Lenski?), don't miss this one.
If you like novels about girls growing up, try this one.
Are you ready for an enjoyable read about a white girl from the 1940s growing up in coal country in the Arkansas River Valley? You will like this book.
In that time period, many of the mines were played out and owned by individuals who were working to get the last dregs of the coal out, one railroad car at a time, to keep their families and neighbors afloat. Often, the owners of the old mines guaranteed the debt tickets the local stores that sold food and other necessities to their workers, issued to the struggling families when they had no cash for necessities.
The mine owners bought them up, taking a chance that they would eventually sell enough coal to pay off the debt to the store. Their own neighbors and family members tickets were bought by the mill owner and the economy of the area depended on this precarious way of doing things. Think company store but the company is very small, usually just one old already worked mine. At the same time, men of means are coming around buying up the mines, consolidating them, changing the old ways, and leaving communities without work.
It is in one of these places that our hero, June Ellen, aged 10, lives in one of the families struggling along, owning a nearly used-up mine to provide a living for a few households. The work is dangerous and often brings on Black Lung Disease, a killer that has taken over the father of the household.
June Ellen is a feisty girl, full of an adventuresome spirit. She loves Nancy Drew and Dale Evans for their sleuthing abilities and does her best to emulate them while living with her Mama, Daddy, and two-years older sister, who is beginning to think about boys and makeup and reject her little sister June Ellen.
There is also a big brother who does not want to be a miner, so first tries working for a dairy then, out of necessity, goes into the mine, which he hates, and finally joins the armed service as the last years of WWII military activities are winding down at the end of the forties.
June Ellen and the family dog Rex carry out various spying forays to find out important things going on in the neighborhood and town. June Ellen never hesitates to take risks, find out important information, and put up a fight when needed. She is a proud tomboy. We can just imagine that by now she is now a happy old woman somewhere or other, sticking up for America in the ways we are all trying to do ourselves.
She lives the kind of life many of us did in our childhoods. On Halloween, she and her girl pal dress as pirates and enter the costume contest. They trick or treat, even on the hill where the rich people live, though no one but the two of them, among the kids in their neighborhood, dare to go there. For their favorite swear word they say H E Double Toothpicks. I remember it from my own childhood and we used it a lot at domino games at our neighbor's house in the 90s, laughing every time.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Most of the stories are less than three pages, episodes in her interesting and sometimes fraught life.
June Ellen loves their family's mine, despite its dangers, and carries around pieces of shiny coal that remind her of the thousands of years of pressure on the long-ago plants that formed it. She always recalls that it was at that time the major source of heat and power for most people, (as it remains today, while we struggle along trying for cleaner ways to make electricity and advance into burning other fuels for our heat and other uses).
For any of us who loves a book about a great girl and her growing up (remember Lois Lenski?), don't miss this one.
Displaying 1 of 1 review