Bakerton, Pennsylvania is a mining town.  It’s a town of company houses and union jobs, of church and family. Bakerton is a town that depends on its coal mines and, in the years during and after World War II, those mines are doing raging business.  Baker Towers is the story of those years, told from the perspective of the Novak family: widowed Rose Novak and her five children, Georgie, Dorothy, Joyce, Sandy and Lucy.  Georgie and Dorothy escape their small-town childhoods, Georgie for the Navy and then Philadelphia and Dorothy for a wartime clerical job in Washington, D.C.  Joyce joins the service as well but returns to care for her ailing mother and watch over her younger brother and sister, a sacrifice which goes un-thanked.  When Dorothy has a breakdown, Joyce takes responsibility for her elder sister as well, settling permanently in Bakerton to watch life pass her by.  Meanwhile, Georgie has “made good” in Philadelphia but remains haunted by what could have been his life, had he stayed home and married his small-town sweetheart, and Lucy struggles with her sense of self and perspective after being spoiled by her mother all her childhood.  Each of the Novak children wrestles, in his or her own way, with the legacy of growing up in the shadow of Baker Towers, the two massive piles of mine refuse that serve as the town’s most commanding landmark.

I read Faith, Jennifer Haigh’s most recent book, this summer and was captivated by her wonderful writing and her ability to take the reader into the innermost thoughts and emotions of her characters.  So I sought out some of her earlier work and Baker Towers immediately jumped out at me as a book I knew I’d love.  I love reading about the time period around World War II, when the book starts, and I’ve always been fascinated by industrial America.  (After all, I majored in Industrial and Labor Relations.)  And wow, I was not disappointed.  From the very first page, I couldn’t put Baker Towers down.  I was pulled immediately into the loves and struggles of the Novak family and found myself relating to Georgie and Joyce in particular.  But beyond just Georgie and Joyce, thanks to Jennifer Haigh, I feel as if I know all of the Novaks.

The fact that I majored in Industrial and Labor Relations probably did add something to my considerable enjoyment of the book.  I could read between the lines and understand what the Bakerton families would have suffered during the miners’ strike, and the economic implications of the mines’ business (or lack thereof) in the 1970s and 1980s.  But you don’t need to have a labor background to enjoy Baker Towers.  All you need is to enjoy a good family saga, great characters and wonderful writing.  If you do, I promise you will enjoy this book – because it has all that and more.  Highly recommended.