Under Ground
A novel by Megan Marsnik
Published in 2019
Serialized in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2015
About Under Ground
It is 1915, and young Katka Kovich leaves the only home she’s ever known for a new life across the ocean. Soon she finds herself on the rough and tumble Iron Range in northern Minnesota, where she joins a community of poor immigrant workers brutally exploited by the mine bosses. When the workers strike, Katka must convince the women to risk their lives and take over the strike. Along the way, she discovers true friendship, a sense of purpose, and love.
Like many stories of revolution and uprising, Under Ground has passionately-spirited, colorful protagonists and deeply-hated antagonists.
It chronicles shootouts at labor rallies, guns transported to and from secret bunkers, fights in brothels, police corruption, xenophobia, and false imprisonment. It features a cast of historical figures including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, and socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs. It is about courage and consequences.
But unlike most novels written about the labor movement in the U.S., this novel is told from the perspective of a strong, immigrant woman, who reminds us that there are things worth dying for, but more importantly, there are things to live for.
Under Ground melds the testosterone-laced grit of the movie There Will be Blood with the tenderness, intrigue, and female ferocity of Maria Duenas’ novel The Time in Between.
“Wow! This was a perspective that needed to be told, and Marsnik does a remarkable job bringing it to life. A truly captivating story for anybody interested in women’s rights, immigrant rights, or northern Minnesota history.”
