In The Fields of Fatherless Children - A Novel

In this love story set in rural Appalachia during the Vietnam War, a young couple is torn apart by both global conflict and their families’ archaic enmity The West Virginia holler where June Branham grew up is darkening as a traditional way of life is threatened by change. Strip mining is being mechanized, costing jobs and making those few jobs left more dangerous, even as new extractive practices threaten to obliterate the abundant beauty of this natural world.; June has fallen in love with Ellis, son of Solomon, who is her stepfather’s mortal enemy, two vengeful old men poised to do any hateful thing to bring harm to his rival’s family. June’s brother Tom enlists, followed by Ellis, leaving her pregnant at 16, home with a mother who’s unable to protect her daughter and granddaughter from the wrath of Isom.;

About the author

PAMELA STEELE holds an MFA in Poetry from Spalding University. Her previous books are Paper Bird: Poems and Greasewood Creek. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships by the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California; the Hindman Settlement School Oak Ledge, in Knott County, Kentucky; the Jentel Artist Residency in Banner, Wyoming; and Fishtrap’s Gathering of Writers in Joseph, Oregon. She lives on a ranch in the high desert of Eastern Oregon.

Product details

• Authors: Pamela Steele
• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 24.03.2026
• EAN: 9781640097605
• ISBN: 978-1-64009-760-5
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Coming of Age, Fiction: special features, Historical fiction, FICTION / Small Town & Rural, Narrative theme: Coming of age, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Narrative theme: Sense of place, FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / General