A few years ago, the author went to live in Horden, a mining village on the bleak east coast of Durham. Horden had been the biggest colliery in Britain, and among the men who had worked there were Hudson's great-grandfather and grandfather. The pit is now closed, and remains alive only in the memories of its old people. In search of his forebears, Hudson listened to the tales of how it once was, of the hardships and traditions of the miner's life, and of the struggles and triumphs of trade unionism. He also heard tales of his ancestors, although these tales flicker and fluctuate; the only certainty is the pit. In this book, Hudson portrays a world that has gone for ever, and offers an angry indictment of what has taken its place. The author won the Thomas Cook Award and the Somerset Maugham Award for Our Grandmothers' Drums.