The Coal Tattoo

by: Silas House

Published by: Ballantine Books

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

If you've read Clay's Quilt you'll identify The Coal Tattoo as a prequel. If you haven't read Clay's Quilt do so. It will only add to your enjoyment of this book.

Anneth, 17, and Easter, 21, are sisters. And they are as different as two women can be. Anneth is a 'wild child' who simply loves life and aims to party her way through it. Easter is the stable, deeply religious woman who doesn't hold with her sister's wild ways. The trouble is Easter is raising her younger sibling since their parents' deaths -- and it's definitely not an easy job.

Easter marries El and become pregnant. She loses her baby with the coal tattoo and her faith falters. Anneth marries several times, but it's Bradley who gives Anneth her greatest gift. It's the gift she shares with the woman who loves her most in the world, and with whom she experiences her greatest heartbreaks and tragedy, almost losing each other on the journey.

Anneth and Easter choose different roads to travel but their land binds them together. And they fight hard to keep it from a mining company.

Silas House is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. He draws full-bodied and flawed characters that you find yourself liking immensely. You just want to visit with them, to listen in on their thoughts and observe their actions. House's descriptions are vivid, his prose lyrical and filled with the nuances of the people and places he writes about.

Armchair Interviews says: The Coal Tattoo is brilliant and is meant to be read slowly and savored.