Unless you want to sleep alone and do your own washing, you will wash your back! Ida, the daughter of an Italian immigrant coal miner laid down the law to her Scottish husband of two days when he refused to wash his back because of a superstition that it would weaken him. Belly of Blackness tells the story of two men, one in Italy, the other in Scotland, who made decisions that cut off the newlyweds from their wealthy families and thrust them underground to work in the belly of blackness that is a coal mine. Dreams of a better life pushed them to move from mining town to mining town, always trying to better themselves. The next generation following the nomadic life also dreamed of the day that they would wash the dust from their backs for the last time. This is one family's story of struggle and triumph.

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Jim Elliot was born in a coal mining town. He attended eleven different schools as his family moved from mining camp to mining camp. Following six years at the University of Alberta, Jim graduated and was ordained as a United Church minister. The next forty years were split between Alberta and British Columbia as he worked in rural areas, suburbs, First Nations communities and finally as head of a large inner-city mission in Vancouver. On retirement he moved to the Sunshine Coast, spent some time volunteering with the local hospice community and then joined a writing group. He and his wife, Geniene, have five children and eight delightful grandchildren.