In the coal town of Justice, many people rely on the coal industry for jobs and food for their tables, but their corporate supervisors rarely have their best interests at heart.

For Arlie, a young, idealistic, recent graduate and budding journalist, Justice is home. Her homecoming is marred by the horrific death of a close friend and worry about the environmental disasters coal mining has brought upon the town.

Author Vicky Hayes worked at a small-town newspaper in Paintsville, Kentucky, covering labor and culture. Hayes used real-life experience, events, and research as...