Mining Town - Preorder

Mining Town by Dan Murphy explores growing up in a mining town in Northern Ontario, a community shaped by the Canadian Shield, the mine, and the lingering consequences of war. The author grew up in Manitouwadge, where a base metal mine opened in the late 1950s, fourteen years after the end of the Second World War. The promise of work and a new life drew miners from across Canada, including his father, along with many war veterans and civilians who had experienced the horror of war, in a few cases, the concentration camps. They carried those experiences with them into the community and, quite literally, down into the mine.

The collection comes from the author's memories of growing up in the town and from a handwritten account his father left of the journey from Prince Edward Island to the mines, which became a way to look more closely at the lives, losses, hopes, and silences that shaped the community and the lives of those who lived there.