From the back cover:
The author, Joseph L. Lothian, brings to life a 1930's coal mining town through the vivid reminiscences of Mykola, who began his young life in poverty and deprivation and then enters the coal mines.  Many charachters touch his life, none more than his one boyhood friend.  A tortured conscience drives him to escape to a new life on Vancouver Island where he finds both love and heartbreak.  In a gripping conclusion, he is forced to confront his past in the mine.