With Dust Still in His Throat

The real history of the mines ought to be written by a man still at work underground. The dust should still be in his throat as he was writing-it seemed to me-then it would be authentic. Despite my searching, I knew of no man who answered this description.' At the end of a detailed, seemingly dispassionate, description of a shift underground, Bert Coombes felt compelled to tell his readers why he had become a writer. Expressed here in characteristic style, with direct prose and use of everyday language and imagery, his convictions and fundamental purpose in writing remained guiding principles throughout his life and literary career. His work received widespread praise from critics such as J. B. Priestley and Cyril Connolly for its accessibility, authenticity and humanity. This anthology represents four types of writing - all published here for the first time: autobiography; the short story; the novel; and the diary. His clear and unsentimental eye allowed Coombes to observe the regular pattern and rhythm of life and to appreciate the way in which on any day there would have to be a consideration of matters relating to work, to politics, to domestic and personal issues, to the weather and world of nature, and to enriching diversions such his beloved violin. His vision is essentially one of balance and normality and through it we begin to understand how this society survived, how its citizens were not the stage army of historians, but real men and women.