The Last Ballad

The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash   416 pgs

Shirley J.                          Adult Historical Fiction                       Mill Workers 1929,  unions

Ella May Wiggins was the Norma Rae of her generation.   Working in a cotton mill in North Carolina in 1929, there were no rules for pay, for hours, nor anything really concerning workers who basically had no rights on the job and no voice with management. .   The years after the Great Depression were especially difficult and bosses were allowed to treat their employees however they liked.  They could pay them little or unequal pay and fire people without notice on a whim.   this is a fictionalized version of what actually happened and how a  mother of four, doing her best to scrape by became the surprise voice of the union revolution beginning across the south at the time.   A very fine story told with candor and appreciation to detail.   A good read to gain a deeper understanding of the times and the worker's plight.    I recommend this book to adults who will appreciate the deeply emotional situations the characters find themselves in