Coal River Audiobook By Ellen Marie Wiseman cover art

Coal River

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Coal River

By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
Narrated by: C.S.E. Cooney
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.62

Buy for $17.62

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

As a child, Emma Malloy left isolated Coal River, Pennsylvania, vowing never to return. Now, orphaned and penniless at 19, she accepts a train ticket from her aunt and uncle and travels back to the rough-hewn community. Treated like a servant by her relatives, Emma works for free in the company store. There, miners and their impoverished families must pay inflated prices for food, clothing, and tools while those who owe money are turned away to starve.

Most heartrending of all are the breaker boys Emma sees around the village - young children who toil all day sorting coal amid treacherous machinery. Their soot-stained faces remind Emma of the little brother she lost long ago, and she begins leaving stolen food on families' doorsteps and marking the miners' bills as paid.

Though Emma's actions draw ire from the mine owner and police captain, they lead to an alliance with a charismatic miner who offers to help her expose the truth. As the lines blur between what is legal and what is just, Emma must risk everything to follow her conscience.

©2015 Ellen Marie Wiseman (P)2015 Tantor Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Sagas Heartfelt Money
Captivating Storyline • Historical Authenticity • Enjoyable Voice • Well-developed Characters • Unexpected Twists
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Interesting storyline. I enjoy historical fiction, this didn’t disappoint. The character development was good. And a female heroine is always enjoyable.

US historical fiction

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sometimes narrators make the book. Other times, they don't. Read this as a hard copy. I liked the story just not the narrator.

Not my Favorite narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story, really enjoyed it. Glad it was suggested. Hoping the second book will come out shortly on audio book.

Great read and listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story line was captivating
Woven very nicely
I knew it would turn out ok
The ending was a well written surprise

The reader

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a wonderful book! Stayed up all night. Didn't want to miss a word. Thank you Ellen Marie Wiseman. Looking forward to the next book.

Best I've listened to in awhile!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a bit long winded at times but over all a good story. kept my interest. enjoyed the fact that there was a heroine in stead of a hero!

coal river

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration was stilted but I still enjoyed the story and the history of coal mining .

Loved the story. Narrator.. uhh

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not only did this narrator speak haltingly and much too quickly-over- enunciating the words, she did not do her due diligence in getting correct pronunciations of several words: Wilkes Barre, PA is not pronounced ‘Bar’ but ‘Bare’. The wagon for picking up the deceased in those times was not call ‘Black Maria’ but ‘Mer-eye-uh, with the accent on the ‘eye’. Yes, I’m nitpicking but choosing to listen to a book being read makes the story only as good as the reader (narrator) can perform it. Stuck with it because the story was so good but do wish I had chosen to just buy the book and read it myself.

Get the hard copy, avoid this narration!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I always have a difficult time listening to stories involving children but I felt this one was very good

Very good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Almost didn’t finish the book but glad I did. Excellent story but narration was hard to listen to.

Didn’t Like Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews