Facing Death Or, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit: A Tale of the Coal Mines

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

Rating 3.3
Word count
388K words
Chapters
39

Tags

Motivation and Growth Coal MiningFate and FortuneFamily BondsLabor ConflictInspirationSpirit of CourageComing of AgeDisaster NarrativeIndustrial AgeVictorian Era

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Facing Death; Or, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit: A Tale of the Coal Mines by HentyAuthor: Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jan 30, 2010

Editor's review

This is a young-adult adventure novel by G. A. Henty set in a coal-mining community, a free public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg. Henty was known for placing young protagonists in authentic industries and historical settings; this book centers on the Vaughan Pit and interweaves miners' labor, the dangers of mine work, and the hero's coming of age, combining a tense plot with a vivid sense of the harshness of nineteenth-century British coal-mining life. Its value lies not only in the story itself but also in offering a window onto how Victorian juvenile fiction shaped ideals of courage, responsibility, and professional ethics. For Chinese readers it works well as light reading in the original English alongside historical and cultural background; readers may find it rewarding to set the novel's depiction of miners' conditions against what they know of British industrial history, and to feel the tension between narrative and historical reality.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Learn the basic background of nineteenth-century British coal mines before starting, so you can grasp the characters' situation and conflicts more quickly.
  2. Mark the chapters on mine accidents and labor scenes separately, then compare them with general industrial history and note the differences.
  3. Follow the protagonist's choices in difficult situations and trace his growth as a framework for discussion or reading notes.
  4. For the original English, read through the plot first, then closely read the passages describing mines and workers' lives on a second pass to build related vocabulary.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39

FAQ

What is this book about, and is it based on real events? It is a young-adult adventure novel set in coal mines, centered on the Vaughan Pit and a young protagonist's experiences; it is fictional narrative, not reportage. Its descriptions of mine labor and risks have period background basis, but the characters and plot are literary creations.
Can I understand it without coal-mining knowledge? Yes. The story follows the characters' experiences and does not depend on specialized knowledge. Spend a little time before reading learning about employment and safety conditions in nineteenth-century British coal mines; when you encounter mining terms, a dictionary or notes will suffice, and you need not study every technical detail.
How difficult is the original English? Henty's works were written in the nineteenth century, with longer sentences, slower narration, and the moralizing tone of the time. It suits readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability who are used to the rhythm of classic texts; beginners should read in sections with a dictionary and background materials.
Is it suitable for children, and what should I note? The book includes mine accidents, casualties, and harsh labor, so younger children may need an adult to read along and explain. It was originally aimed at young readers, but its values and narrative style bear the marks of its era; after reading, discuss labor safety and the characters' choices with your child.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902 Author

George Alfred Henty (1832–1902) was a well-known British writer of historical adventure novels for young readers in the nineteenth century. The collection here contains 107 of his works, most of them drawn from major historical events in Europe and the Americas: By Right of Conquest is set during Cortez's conquest of Mexico, Under Wellington's Command takes the Peninsular War as its background, and For the Temple deals with the fall of Jerusalem. He typically placed a young hero at the centre of real historical scenes, weaving military campaigns and political struggles together with personal adventure. The plots are tightly paced and rich in detail, and they reflect a distinctly British outlook and the moral tastes of the Victorian age. His output was considerable, and his books had a lasting influence on later historical adventure fiction. Public information about his family, education and career is limited, so no speculation is offered here.