Miners Strike Back, The

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Wales' mining heritage clashes with the modern world in this character-driven working class tragicomedy with an underlying theme of loss: of an industry, of a way of life, and of a life partner. The protagonist is an anti-hero - Johnny 'the Cutter' Morgan, a widowed ex-miner who discovers coal under his allotment shed and, with good intentions of providing work for antisocial local teenagers, opens a clandestine coal mine. The venture becomes a rollercoaster ride as Johnny battles to keep his tiny colliery secret from prying allotment tenants, the authorities, retired never-off-duty police officers, a mad coal merchant, and a band of militant climate activists. Can Johnny hold it all together and resurrect his unfashionable mining past, in microcosm, in an increasingly hostile green world? Published in advance of the 40th anniversary of the UK's 1984-85 Miners' Strike.