• Age: 14 to 16
• Grade: 9 to 11
• Reading age: 0 to 16

Set in late-1920s Sydney Mines, Us & Them is the story of sixteen-year-old JW Donaldson, who interrupts his high school education to work in the coal mine to help support his family.

A fatal accident in the mine awakens JW to just how dangerous working conditions are and to how management seems to care more about production than about the men and boys who are the means of that production.

JW enlists the aid of union activist and local hero, JB McLachlan, and learns that even the young can be a positive voice for change.

Hugh R. MacDonald is a writer of fiction and enjoys the company of other writers. He has been fortunate to belong to a local writing group for years and attends workshops that include renowned Cape Breton and Canadian authors. Hugh has been a member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia for many years. His work has been published online and in two anthologies Hugh is a graduate of Cape Breton University and works in the human service field. He resides in Cape Breton with his wife, Joanne. At the time of printing, he is busy on his next project, a mainstream novel set in Cape Breton. Trapper Boy is his first published novel.

Hugh R. MacDonald's profile page