Call Me Kate:
Meeting the Molly Maguires
by Molly Roe

    CALL ME KATE by Molly Roe
    Category:  Historical
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  11/24/08
    Publisher:  Tribute Books
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  4 Stars


    Catharine “Katie” McCafferty has grown up in the midst of the Pennsylvania coal mining community.  The owners
    of the coal mines can pretty much run the lives of those that rely on the mines for their livelihood.  If the head of the
    household becomes injured due to safety issues in the mines, the remaining family members must come together to
    pay the rent or they will lose their home.  

    Many of the miners are paid in scrip, which is only good at the company-owned store.  Struggling is a way of life.  
    But Katie’s family and neighbors have always gotten by and relied on each other.

    When Katie’s father is injured at work and loses the use of his legs, Katie takes it upon herself to help her family
    stay afloat.  Her mother secures her a temporary domestic help job for a local bachelor.  When that job ends, she
    finds herself traveling to a large estate to become live-in help.  It’s while Katie works for the Pardee family that she
    becomes entangled in the intrigue and secret Irish societies determined to help those drafted into the Army by
    backhanded means.

    The Molly Maguires are just one of these organizations that fight for the rights of the second-class miners.  The
    members are willing to destroy rail lines and scarify lives for the good of the larger whole.  Katie becomes scared
    for her long-time friend, Con, who has taken up with the group and fears for his life.  She befriends the stable boy
    at Pardee’s estate and the two try to sidetrack the horrible plot to blow up the tracks.

    CALL ME KATE was a fascinating look at the time period of the early drafts for the Civil War.  It focuses on a
    specific area of the country and the conflict that arose among the different classes and ethnicities.  Being from
    Pennsylvania, I could picture many of the places that were referenced and got a brief history lesson on a time
    period that I wasn’t very familiar with.  For anyone interested in getting some history with their fiction, CALL ME
    KATE is a good book to add to your choices.