Chapter One Summary

Storming Heaven is a historical novel that tells the story of struggling West Virginia coal miners in the early twentieth century, which is a story that has often been neglected by history books. This novel gives a fictional but accurate account of how the miners stood together and how business and political interests used deadly force to preserve the oppressive conditions.

Chapter One opens with C.J. Marcum thinking about things that can affect a baby before it is born. He remembers a discussion that he had with Dillon Lloyd in 1890. Dillon is making a banjo for the baby about to be born to his brother and sister-in-law. Dillon lives alone in a cabin but helps his brother farm one hundred acres.

The railroad companies are taking the mineral rights from the farmers and then sell the rights to coal companies...