Milana Marsenich has written an evocative history of a specific time and place—Butte, Montana at the turn of the 20^th Century—which also embraces critical elements of the contemporary American feminist movement. Blending the two into a narrative which at once informs and entertains the reader is no mean feat.

Copper Sky by Milana Marsenich

Marsenich’s strong characters are women facing a harsh world in which their worth is diminished and their destiny often controlled by the hands of others—notably, other men.  Her heroines grapple with a world which is harsh and violent; it is also decidedly cold. Their cultural environment is cold and unfeeling; the climate in which they survive is so cold that Marsenich should be required to issue blankets and parkas with each copy of the book.

Copper Sky moves at a deliberate yet urgent pace and its characters—an entire miniature universe of them—are well limned and lively.  Marsenich has created a world with which few are familiar, yet the troubles that world presents are as familiar as today’s news.  Her knowledge of the history of Butte meshes with an innate understanding of how women are degraded—prostitution becomes a mode of survival, fathers controlling when and whom their daughters will marry—make for a compelling story indeed.