Down the Coaltown Road

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

It is June 1940, and anti-Italian feelings are running high in Canada.
After Mussolini brings his country into World War II, Ottawa orders the
RCMP to round up Italian men who are likely to be troublemakers. The
Italian miners who work in Cape Breton’s coal-mining district are
needed to keep the mines operating to help the war effort, but the other
miners suspect they are bent on sabotage. In other stories, Tomassio,
who is having an affair with the mother of his son’s girlfriend,
becomes the target of her husband’s vendetta. Two Roman Catholic
priests, aided by two nuns, do their best to calm their parishioners.

The internment of Italian men in Canada is a seldom-told tale, but much
of its impact is diminished by the introduction of too many unrelated
personal stories. The dialogue is sprightly, but few of the characters
are well developed. Still, Down the Coaltown Road is an amusing read.