The Unquiet Earth

The Unquiet Earth (1992) is a historical novel by Denise Giardina about the impact large coal companies have on a small mining town in West Virginia. Giardina’s third novel, the book won the 1992 Weatherford Award and the 1993 American Book Award. Giardina is a novelist who enjoys exploring theological and religious issues through her writing. The Unquiet Earth is based on Giardina’s own unique experience of life in the West Virginia coalfields. Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a former state governor candidate, and a community activist.

Although The Unquiet Earth centers on life in a mining town, it is also a story about unrequited love, and how romantic disappointments can shape families for many generations. The narrative spans a few decades. The town’s declining industrial wealth and its decreasing mining activity link everything together.

There are three narrators in The Unquiet Earth, all belonging to the same family. The first narrator is Dillon Lloyd. When the book begins, he is a fourteen-year-old living with his mother. He misses his father terribly. His father, a union organizer, died during a violent labor dispute outside a closed mine. More than anything, Dillon wants to restore his father’s memory and rebuild his mining legacy.



Dillon’s cousin, Rachel, is the second narrator. Dillon’s first cousin, she remembers Mr. Lloyd, and she often talks of him to Dillon. Although Dillon finds Rachel attractive, he is primarily drawn to her because she remembers his father. She might only be sixteen, two years older than Dillon, but he looks up to her.

As Dillon matures, he realizes that he can’t deny his romantic feelings for Rachel. He tells her how he feels, but she rejects him. She doesn’t think it is right to marry her first cousin. One day, she falls into a river, and the strong current pulls her downstream. Dillon runs after her, but his mother stops him from jumping into the water.

Dillon watches helplessly as the current drags Rachel further away. Eventually, she climbs to safety and runs back to her family. Dillon decides that, no matter what anyone says, he is marrying Rachel. He cannot bear the thought of losing her. Rachel, however, does not want to marry him. She cannot cope with the shame and guilt of loving him. Rachel narrates many chapters throughout the book, and there is always a sense that she is wrestling with complex, unwanted romantic feelings.



Rachel leaves town and heads for nursing school. She thinks it is best if she moves away from Dillon and forgets about him. Heartbroken, Dillon enlists in the British Army. He doesn’t care what happens to him because nothing matters without Rachel. They don’t see each other for many years.

One day, Rachel returns to her hometown. She plans to work as a nurse there, only her family has lost their land, and there is nowhere to call home anymore. Dillon’s father warned her family about this possibility long ago. If the unions didn’t protect workers’ rights, businesses and wealthy people could buy up the land, pushing ordinary mining families out. This is exactly what is happening.

Finally, Dillon returns home. He finds out that Rachel took a job in nearby Justice County. He wants to go to see her, but he cares more about protecting the mines. He stays home, rallying the townsfolk against the coal company trying to poach their land. Still, he can’t get Rachel out his head.



One day, Dillon seeks Rachel out. He proposes, but she refuses. She doesn’t want to ruin her pristine medical career by marrying unlawfully. Dillon says there is no need for marriage; his parents never married. They can just live together. Rachel doesn’t want that. She wants a regular marriage and legitimate children.

Rachel breaks Dillon’s heart yet again when she marries someone else. Tony is an Italian who believes in traditional family values. Dillon refuses to give up on her because he knows that she is unhappy with Tony. He promises to win her heart, whatever it takes.

No one finds it strange that Rachel and Dillon hang out together so much because they are related. Finally, one thing leads to another, and they have sex under a tree in the woods. Rachel feels a mixture of shame and satisfaction because she has wanted this for a long time. The encounter leaves Dillon wanting more.



Rachel and Dillon conceive a child called Jackie. Rachel pretends that Tony is the father, but Dillon knows the truth. Jackie steps in as the third narrator. She grows up thinking that Tony is her real father; not until adulthood does she learn the truth. She is angry with Rachel and Dillon for concealing her heritage. She moves away, leaving the mining village behind, and symbolizing the death of an era for mining in the town.