Tunnels!: True Stories from the Edge

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

Stories of extreme danger, courage, and survival are as old as time.
Diane Swanson’s 11 gripping tunnel stories from around the world can
stand with the best of them. Contexts and situations differ widely. Some
are stories about war, some about prison escapes, and others about mine
disasters. One is about a bank robbery. All of them celebrate the
ingenuity and determination of real-life heroes.

One crisis that older Canadians may recall is the Springhill, Nova
Scotia, mine disaster on October 23, 1958. Mining activity changes the
pressure on coal seams and on the layers below them. On this day, 174
men were caught underground at a depth of 13,000 feet, buried under rock
and coal. Townspeople and off-duty miners worked round the clock until
all were found—dead or alive. Ninety-nine miners survived, a few of
whom had been trapped for up to eight days. Some claimed that a black
miner named Maurice Ruddick had kept their hopes alive by singing.

Other tunnel stories belong to the era of the Underground Railway
(i.e., blacks escaping slavery in the United States for freedom in
Canada) in the latter half of the 19th century, and to the 20th-century
drug trade between Mexico and the United States. One comes out of the
Vietnam War. All are extraordinary tales of ingenuity and determination.
All are well researched and well written.

Swanson has published more than 50 books for young people and has won
many awards. Tunnels! is highly recommended.