In the Shadow of Rebellion

A Novel Based on Historic Events 

       As Maggie Rigby watches over her comatose husband, a flood of memories sweeps her into the past. The vivid journey begins in 1889 when her father is maimed in a mine explosion. To help support the family, Maggie accepts a teaching position in the silver-lead mining district of northern Idaho Territory, where she faces a classroom of hooligans. Before long, she is thrust into the midst of violence that rages between the miners’ union and mine owners, a battle that rips the district, the classroom, and people’s lives to shreds.

       During the turmoil, Maggie meets Dan Rigby, a nighttime miner and daytime prospector, who beguiles her into marriage. When his prospecting leads to an exciting silver strike, the Rigby fortunes follow the rising star of the Black titan, one of the richest mines in the district. While Dan fights cheek to jowl with the railroad and smelting trusts, Maggie publishes a newspaper and dares to raise her woman’s voice against a society of men, one segment driven by ambition and greed, the other by the brawling restlessness of the hard-working poor. Amid a maelstrom of man-made and natural calamities, an arch-villain hovers in the shadows, ready to take vengeance on Maggie and Dan.

       In the Shadow of Rebellion tells of the fine line two humans walk between love and hate, hope and despair, and of the inner courage that prevails.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

        Gladys Smith taught in rural schools for thirty-one years before she became a writer. Her novels River of Our Return and Deliverance Valley won the coveted Willa Cather Literary Award. Her novel Higher Ground was a finalist for that award. She lives in Montana with her Labrador retriever, a few deer and coons, a family of foxes, and a host of wild birds.