Beneath and Beyond

Thirteen children. One coal-dusted hollow. A mother who refused to let the darkness win.

In the shadow of the St. Charles mines, life was measured in tons of coal and the steady beat of a kitchen rhythm. For Jerry Buchanan and his twelve siblings, the world was a "house of many echoes"-a blended family stitched together by the unwavering grace of their mother, Pearlie.

Beneath and Beyond is more than a memoir of a vanished way of life; it is a tribute to the "Keeper of the Flame." From the "N...