Coaldust and Candlelight

by K. M. Ashman

Book 1 in the The Children of Black Water Valley series.

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Audio available 4.7

In 1878 nine children grow up in Bryn-du, a Welsh valley village built around the coal pit. Work, chapel and closely packed homes bind the community together, but they also place adult responsibilities and industrial danger inside the children's daily lives.

Some dream of education or escape while others carry family burdens they cannot choose. The first novel establishes the friendships and inequalities that will be tested when the mine and the mountain demand a price from the entire village.