When We Get There
Encyclopedia
When We Get There is a novel
about coming-of-age by the American
writer Shauna Seliy
set in 1974 in a coal mining
patch (modeled on the author’s hometown of Yukon, Westmoreland County
) near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
The novel tells the story of Lucas Lessar. His father has died in a mining accident and his mother has mysteriously disappeared, so he lives with his grandmother. Zoli, his mother's estranged boyfriend, starts to harass Lucas, prompting him to skip school and takes long bus rides in attempts to find his mother.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
about coming-of-age by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Shauna Seliy
Shauna Seliy
Shauna Seliy is an American novelist.Born in 1970 in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Serra Catholic High School in McKeesport. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts.She has received...
set in 1974 in a coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
patch (modeled on the author’s hometown of Yukon, Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
) near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
The novel tells the story of Lucas Lessar. His father has died in a mining accident and his mother has mysteriously disappeared, so he lives with his grandmother. Zoli, his mother's estranged boyfriend, starts to harass Lucas, prompting him to skip school and takes long bus rides in attempts to find his mother.