Nickel Range Trilogy

It's spring, 1963 in the "Nickel Capital of the World." Nineteen-year-old Jake McCool is about to undergo a rite of passage-his first shift underground in a hard rock mine. But the Cold War is at its height, and Jake is also about to become a reluctant participant in a bitter inter-union battle fuelled by the global struggle between two ideologies in the wake of the Second World War. So is his girlfriend, Jo Ann Winters. Together the couple will be swept up in a web of intrigue; at its centre is a terrible secret that will haunt their relationship for the rest of their lives, as their hometown becomes not only one of the world's greatest hard rock mining centres, but also the epicenter of the Cold War in North America.

It's spring, 1963 in the "Nickel Capital of the World." Nineteen-year-old Jake McCool is about to undergo a rite of passage-his first shift underground in a hard rock mine. But the Cold War is at its height, and Jake is also about to become a reluctant participant in a bitter inter-union battle fuelled by the global struggle between two ideologies in the wake of the Second World War. So is his girlfriend, Jo Ann Winters. Together the couple will be swept up in a web of intrigue; at its centre is a terrible secret that will haunt their relationship for the rest of their lives, as their hometown becomes not only one of the world's greatest hard rock mining centres, but also the epicenter of the Cold War in North America. In this fast-paced novel set against the little-known historical backdrop of a true-life battle that included vicious beatings, riots and worse, Lowe posits a provocative premise: that the US government sponsored a ruthless covert operation to destabilize a strategic com¬munity in the heartland of its closest ally: Canada.

Jake McCool, the injured hard-rock miner introduced in “The Raids (Vol. 1)”, returns to work for INCO, but now at its nearby Copper Cliff smelter complex. In no time, he finds himself embroiled in a vicious fight over health and safety. Particularly alarming are the extreme levels of sulfur dioxide that poison the air in the smelter but also in the entire surrounding area, thus creating Sudbury's infamous "lunar landscape." The fight takes on new dimensions when free-lance reporter Foley Gilpin, who had worked for the Mine Mill union in The Raids, sparks attention at The Globe & Mail. At the same time local parliamentarian Harry Wardell smells high-level collusion between Inco and the government at Queen's Park in Toronto. Through the lives of Jake and his girlfriend Jo Ann Winters, their roommate Foley Gilpin, and a new cast of characters, Mick Lowe chronicles an entire community's eco-defiance.

In this story of eco-resistance based on actual events in the heart of Canada's Nickel Range, Jake McCool, the injured hardrock miner, returns to work for the International Nickel Company (INCO) but now at its nearby Copper Cliff smelter complex. In no time, Jake finds himself embroiled in a vicious fight over health and safety and, more specifically, over the extreme levels of sulphur dioxide that poison the air in the smelter but also in the entire surrounding area. The fight takes on new dimensions as freelance reporter Foley Gilpin sparks interest at Canada's national daily Globe & Mail and as local parliamentarian Harry Wardell smells the collusion between INCO and the highest levels of Ministry of Natural Resources at Queen's Park in Toronto.

September 1978. 11,700 hard rock miners and smelter and refinery workers at Inco's Sudbury operations face a stark choice. Should they remain on the job? Or take seemingly suicidal strike action against a huge multinational that has stocked up enough nickel to last a year? A fateful choice is made. It changes the lives of newlyweds Jake and Jo Ann McCool and the Canadian labour movement forever. Against a backdrop of unrelenting winter and swirling changes in social mores, the ensuing struggle triggers epical challenges few could have foreseen. The third and final volume of Mick Lowe's sweeping Nickel Range Trilogy, Wintersong, is working class literature at it's best, echoing the great tradition of writers like Upton Sinclair, Theodore Dreiser, Steinbeck and Dos Passos.

A gripping historical novel of a Canadian mining community facing a pivotal labor strike. In September 1978, the 11,700 hard rock miners and smelter workers of Inco's Sudbury operations face a life-altering choice: stand firm on the job or launch a seemingly impossible strike against a powerful employer with a year's worth of nickel stockpiled. For newlyweds Jake and Jo Ann McCool, and for the Canadian labor movement, nothing will ever be the same. Against a backdrop of unrelenting winter and shifting social norms, the ensuing struggle triggers unforeseen challenges. Wintersong, the final volume of Mick Lowe's Nickel Range Trilogy, is a powerful work of working-class literature, reminiscent of Upton Sinclair and John Steinbeck. It explores themes of resilience, solidarity, and the human cost of economic conflict, perfect for readers of Canadian historical fiction and labor history.