Army troops and a resisting fledgling union organization. The climax of the novel is based upon the historical 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain between U.S. It covers the period 1890–1921, when coal miners were fighting to be unionized. The story takes place in the coalfields along the West Virginia – Kentucky border during the West Virginia Mine Wars.

This time her novel had a West Virginia setting. Her next novel, Storming Heaven, was published in 1987. Denise Giardina also wrote guest columns for The Charleston Gazette and submitted pieces to The Washington Post while continuing her secretarial work. Despite positive reviews, the novel sold poorly. Worksĭenise Giardina's first novel, Good King Harry, about Henry V of England, was published in 1984. She received 10,416 votes, 1.61% of the vote, coming in third behind Democrat Bob Wise and Republican incumbent Cecil H. Giardina became the first statewide nominee of the new party in the 2000 general election. The Mountain Party of West Virginia was born as a result of Charlotte Pritt's 19 candidacies for Governor of West Virginia.

In 2007 she was reinstated as an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. Giardina currently lives near Charleston and teaches at West Virginia State University. In order to fund this career choice, Denise Giardina did secretarial work during the day so she could write in the evenings. In 1980 she decided against ordination in favor of pursuing a career in writing. She pursued graduate work at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, later receiving a Masters in Divinity from the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia in 1979. Giardina received a Bachelor's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1973. In order to find work, her family moved to the state capital of Charleston. Her family lived in Black Wolf until she was thirteen, when the mine closed. Giardina's grandfather and uncles worked underground and her father kept the books for Page Coal and Coke. Like the rest of the community, her family's survival was dependent upon the prosperity of the mine. Denise Giardina was born Octoin Bluefield, West Virginia, and grew up in the small coal mining camp of Black Wolf, located in rural McDowell County, West Virginia.

The Unquiet Earth by Denise Giardina