When Fallen Angels Fly

Book excerpt: CHARLENE is an Eastern Kentucky coalminer's daughter who vows not to drink like her father, swears she will not be stuck in a tumultuous marriage but finds herself in those very situations she vowed would never happen. At a very early age, Charlene falls in love with the mine foreman's wild, irresponsible, yet incredibly handsome son, discovers she is pregnant at seventeen, and learns about life through extreme sorrow. Charlene grows close to BIRDIE, the local weathered old hillbilly, who smokes, drinks, cusses, plays poker like a man, and takes her on a cruise. They have the time of their lives, and the pages are ripe with humor from the episodes of the two cruising on a luxury liner. When Charlene returns, she is traumatized by her husband once again, and leaves in the middle of the night to begin a new life. She moves outside of Cincinnati on the Kentucky side, finds a job, and a small house. Charlene meets ROSIE, her next-door neighbor. As the two become friends, Charlene is introduced to KARMA, Rosie's niece. Eventually all three women develop lifelong, deeper friendships, bringing joy into each other's lives. With baby steps and relapses, we learn that overcoming a past can be done, that humor makes life bearable, and that working, struggling mothers of low income remain poor partly because the government structure completely ignores them. When Fallen Angels Fly is a thoroughly enjoyable book reading experience, replete with laughter, tears, triumph, and tragedy.