I loved this book.

I loved the tenderness between the characters themselves and the tenderness with which the author wrote about them.

I loved the five distinct voices of the members of the Moore family, whose alternating narrations unwind the story frontwards, backwards, and inwards.

I loved the "wisp of suspense," as one reviewer put it; but I also loved that the mystery was embedded in the character development, not the other way around.

I loved the reality of it. Even the best of folks trying to make the best of decisions sometimes just get it all wrong.

I loved that Phillips didn't need eccentric quirks or minor evil streaks to bring her characters to life. She just wrote about ordinary people trying to do right by each other.

For a first time novelist to tackle poverty, racism, prejudice, and family life in 1930s Alabama is ballsy, not least because the inimitable Harper Lee already did it with spectacular near-perfection. But Gin Phillips understands that in mining and in writing and in getting to know ourselves and others, nothing is ever finished. ( )

This is a wonderful book; surprisingly a debut novel. The book takes place in a mining town in Alabama in 1931, and the sense of place is almost a character itself. The story opens with a distressing event, and the mystery surrounding the event carries through the book, but really it is a story about a family, a place, a time, and a way of living. There are multiple narrators, each well developed characters, each giving the reader a different perspective on this hard life.

The descriptions of the day-to-day lives of each family member are so well done that we learn so much but we as readers are never taken out of the story. The chores, the back breaking work, the limited food and how it is cooked are all intrinsic to the characters and the story. The author addresses poverty, racism, the unfairness of life, loss, and despair, and yet it is such a hopeful, warm and uplifting novel!

The writer has skills - her descriptions are beautiful, we see and feel and smell what they do, and despite the harsh reality of life in this mining town, there is so much beauty and love and it is inspirational!

Read this book, it will make you appreciate your family,the food on your table and most of all; your washing machine! ( )

Simple prose that packs a punch. In a quiet way this book takes on many social issues and everyday family issues. The characters are real and endearing. There is a history of coal mine workers in my family so I am drawn to stories about the mines and the people that worked in them. ( )

Review: The Well and The Mine by Gin Phillips.

The story was well written and the characters were created fully for the 1930’s in Carbon Hill, Alabama. The setting was a small mining town suffering the effects of the depression. This was also, during the Roosevelt’s New Deal where people helped one another survive the misery and anguish hovering over the whole country and unfair racial stigma still festered under the surface of daily life.

The story was based on a woman, late at night, dropped a small bundle into the Moore’s covered well near their porch in their back yard not knowing that nine-year old Tess Moore, in the dark shadows, witnessed the horrific scene. However, Tess did not recognize the woman who was tall with a large body frame. Tess told her family but they thought she was seeing shadows and letting her mind wonder somewhat as some young girls do at that age. The next day Tess did not drop the issue so they did have a sheriff look into the matter and Tess was right…Their was a dead baby boy at the bottom of the well….reports came back that the baby had died before it was dropped into the well.

While curiosity hung over the town no real investigation proceeded. Unless, a girl like Tess and her sister Virgie, a fourteen-year-old decided to do their own investigation which sometimes got them into trouble along the way. That incident will filter throughout the story to the end. In the meantime, Gin Phillips gave a first person perspective of all the Moore’s family members from their five points of views. She organized it in a way that was understandable to the reader and it never got confusing.

The youngest child Jack Moore, a seven-year-old wanting to be included in everything began each chapter by reflecting on his childhood. The parents Leta and Albert cherish their three children and made sure they never went hungry. The family was true on respect and hard work. Albert worked hard in the coal mines and was completely unbiased to any racism among the community people or any of his co-workers. Many miners were black and received a lower pay which Albert was not at ease with and he kept trying to befriend some of the men but they seemed to be scared off by ramifications.

The story was laid backed with many issues on the rearing of children, the individual labor at home, the miners working conditions and status of keeping a job, the small town issues among the community, friendship among the children, and Tess and Virgie’s investigation into the baby boy at the bottom of their well.
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A very nicely written book. Well-developed and robust characters. I like the perspective of the different voices. Looking forward to more books by Gin Phillips. ( )