Life is incredibly hard for all the immigrant families who work in the mine, but harder still for Hannah's--her father recently killed in the mine, her mother nearly dead from giving birth to the latest child. Hannah's older sister, the pretty one, isn't much use, and the little ones are too small to do anything but fight with each other.

But Hannah's strong as sturdy rope; her dad used to say so himself. She'll defy all convention and pass herself off as a boy to get into the mine that is their only real hope of salvation. Common wisdom is that women are bad luck in a mine, so when her secret is discovered, the superstitious miners are furious. Will she survive this too?

Author Diana Vazquez paints a gritty portrait of the bleak mining shanty town and the lives of the people who live there. But it is the indomitable spirit of her unsentimental, blunt, and fearless heroine that will remain memorable to all who encounter her.

Diana Vazquez studied film and video at the Ontario College of Art and has spent several years writing and producing her own short and independent dramas and experimental films. Her first juvenile fiction novel, Hannah, was published by Coteau Books.