Book excerpt: Inspired by real events The year is 1889. When a fire tears through the Mauricewood coal pit there is no escape. Of sixty-five men working, only two survive. Many of the bodies will not be recovered for months. Martha and her sister have lived with their granny since their mother died, but she is not kind. The death of their father in the Disaster means an end to any chance of a better life. For Martha’s stepmother, Jess, the wait for a body to bury, and the struggle to deal with a loss that is both collective and private, is agonizing. With many of the miners families left destitute, the women of Mauricewood undertake a campaign for compensation and justice against the criminally negligent pit owners. Martha and Jess’s stories lie at the heart of this elegy to the closeknit communities of the pit villages in a gripping tribute to resilience and courage in the face of utter catastrophe, based on true events, original source material and Alexander’s own family history. Praise for The Mauricewood Devils: 'A beautifully written book, affecting and eligiac, by a novelist who is also a poet. It is at once desperately sad and painful, uplifting and life-affirming. What saves the lives of the characters, as much as mere physical sustenance, is telling stories, both those they tell themselves consciously and those that visit them unbidden. And the book itself is a testament to the power of storytelling. It takes a long gone, largely forgotten historical event and brings it to life again.' Allison Miller, author of Demo