Kim Kelly

A revelatory and inclusive history of the American labor movement, from journalist Kim Kelly. The history of organized labor in America all too often conjures a bygone era and generic images of slick-haired strongmen and hard-hatted construction workers. But in fact, one of America’s first unions was founded by Black Mississippi freedwomen in the 1860s. Jewish immigrant garment workers were instrumental in getting worker protections incorporated into FDR’s New Deal. Latino- and Asian-American farmworkers in California were 1970s pioneers in the fight for racial inclusion and a fair wage. And today, the Amazon warehouse employees fighting to unionize in Bessemer, Alabama are 85% Black. In Fight Like Hell, Teen Vogue labor columnist and independent journalist Kim Kelly tells a definitive history of the labor movement and the people—workers, organizers, and their allies—who risked everything to win fair wages, better working conditions, disability protections, and an eight-hour workday. That history is a 1972 clothing company strike that saw 4,000 Chicana laborers start a boycott that swept the nation. It is Ida Mae Stull’s 1934 demand for the right to work in an Ohio coal mine alongside the men, and the enslaved Black women before her who weren’t given a choice. It’s Dorothy Lee Bolden’s 1960s rise from domestic workers’ union founder to White House anti-segregationist. It’s Mother Jones on the picket lines, and Lucy Parsons, Marie Equi, Ben Fletcher, and Frank Little’s militant battles against the ravages of capitalism. It’s the flight attendants union that pushed to root out sexual assault in the skies and ended a 2019 federal government shutdown. It’s the incarcerated workers organizing prison strikes for basic rights, and the sex workers building collective power outside the law. And it is Bayard Rustin, a queer civil rights pioneer who helped organize Dr. King’s March on Washington and promoted the alignment between movements for labor and civil rights. As America grapples with the unfinished business of emancipation, the New Deal, and Johnson’s Great Society, Fight Like Hell offers a transportive look at the forgotten heroes who’ve sacrificed to make good on the nation’s promises. Kim Kelly’s publishing debut is both an inspiring read and a vital contribution to American history.

The Untold History of American Labor

Fight Like Hell

A murder. A missing manuscript. An undying love. Thisbe Chisholm wants to be a writer. It's 2007, a time of digital revolution and skyrocketing property prices, but she's an old-fashioned girl. She doesn't even own a mobile phone. She has no stars-in-her-eyes desire for fame, to see her name on the cover of a book, either. She longs only to tell of the stories written on her heart. While her best friends, Penny and Jane, and her darling boyfriend, John, seem set for stellar careers in their chosen fields, Thisbe works nights as a hostess at a glitzy harbourside Sydney club - a job she despises but it's paid the rent for the last three years since university graduation. Just as she completes her novel, though, she is brutally killed at the end of John's street. Who murdered Thisbe? What will become of her novel? From the gritty glamour of Bondi Beach to the cold streets of London, here is a tale of tragedy and literary betrayal, of a publishing industry grappling with change and a great love drowning in guilt-wracked grief. Haunting, whimsical and sharply observed, Her Last Words lays bare the truth that, while some crimes might go unpunished among the privileged, words themselves have a way of enduring - and exacting a justice all their own. Praise for Kim Kelly 'deeply moving...alive, full-hearted and shimmering with hope' - Belinda Castles, Bluebottle 'Kelly is a masterful creator of character and voice.' - Julian Leatherdale, Palace of Tears 'history that makes you think as well as feel' - Wendy James, The Golden Child 'an author who writes with such a striking sense of atmosphere and sublime instinct' - Theresa Smith Writes 'storytelling is clearly encoded in her DNA' - Writerful Books 'It is uplifting to know that there are people who can write like this, with clarity, a bit of devilment and a hint of a smile.' Canberra Times 'marvellous depth and authenticity based on some impressive research, and her characters, plot and fluid prose draw the reader into this world' - Daily Telegraph 'colourful, evocative and energetic' - Sydney Morning Herald 'storytelling that breaks the rules so beautifully' - Jenn J McLeod, A Place to Remember 'Kim Kelly's writing is magnificent' - With Love for Books 'told with wit, warmth and courage' - Kylie Mason, The Newtown Review of Books 'vivid and enthralling' - Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini 'simply superb' - Karen Brooks, The Darkest Shore

Her Last Words

“Kelly unearths the stories of the people—farm laborers, domestic workers, factory employees—behind some of labor movement’s biggest successes.” —The New York Times A revelatory and inclusive history of the American labor movement, from independent journalist and Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly. Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America’s civil rights movement. These are only some of the working-class heroes who propelled American labor’s relentless push for fairness and equal protection under the law. The names and faces of countless silenced, misrepresented, or forgotten leaders have been erased by time as a privileged few decide which stories get cut from the final copy: those of women, people of color, LGBTQIA people, disabled people, sex workers, prisoners, and the poor. In this definitive and assiduously researched work of journalism, Teen Vogue columnists and independent labor reporter Kim Kelly excavates that untold history and shows how the rights the American worker has today—the forty-hour workweek, workplace-safety standards, restrictions on child labor, protection from harassment and discrimination on the job—were earned with literal blood, sweat, and tears. Fight Like Hell comes at a time of economic reckoning in America. From Amazon’s warehouses to Starbucks cafes, Appalachian coal mines to the sex workers of Portland’s Stripper Strike, interest in organized labor is at a fever pitch not seen since the early 1960s. Inspirational, intersectional, and full of crucial lessons from the past, Fight Like Hell shows what is possible when the working class demands the dignity it has always deserved.

Wild Chicory is the story of a journey from Ireland to Australia in the early 1900s, along threads of love, family, war and peace. It's a slice of ordinary life rich in history, folklore and fairy tale, and a portrait of the precious bond between a granddaughter, Brigid, and her grandmother, Nell. From the windswept, emerald coast of County Kerry, to the slums of Sydney's Surry Hills; and from the bitter sectarian violence of Ulster, to tranquillity of rural New South Wales, Brigid weaves her grandmother's tales into a small but beautiful epic of romance and tragedy, of laughter and the cold reality of loss. It's Nell's tales, tall and true, that spur Brigid to write her own, too. Ultimately, it's a story of finding your feet in a new land - be that a new country, or a new emotional space - and the wonderful trove of narrative we carry with us wherever we might go. In many ways Brigid and Nell are Kim and her grandmother Lillian Kelly, and many snippets of story in this work belong especially to them. It is primarily a work of fiction, but while the Kennedys and the O'Halligans in Wild Chicory are not the Kellys and O'Reillys of Kim's own family history, they have sprung direct from her heart, and show readers just how it is she came to be a writer of stories herself.

Wild Chicory

Truth is not a destination - it's a magical ride.

The Truth & Addy Loest

March, 1912. A sultry Indian summer hangs over the west coast of Australia and aboard the luxury steamship SS Koombana, three tales entwine.

Jewel Sea

An engaging, entertaining read set in 1930s Sydney against the backdrop of the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge...evocatively drawn.' - Books+Publishing Broke and hopeless in 1929, Yo O'Keenan flees the violence of his home in Chippendale, and by some miracle charms his way into a job on the Harbour Bridge, a new start for himself and his little sister, Agnes. Meanwhile, on the north side of Sydney, in her cluttered cottage at Lavender Bay, a young and ambitious costumier, Olivia Greene, works on her latest millinery creations, dreaming of taking her colours to Paris, London, New York. A random encounter in the Botanic Gardens sparks a powerful attraction, even as the gulf between this pair seems wider than the blue mile of harbour that divides the city. By mid-1932, the construction of the Bridge is complete, but Sydney is in chaos, on the brink of civil war, as the Great Depression begins to bite - hard. And then Yo disappears. Against the glittering backdrop of Sydney Harbour, The Blue Mile tells of the cruelties of poverty, the wild gamble a city took to build a wonder of the world, and the risks the truly brave will take for a chance at life.

The Blue Mile

It's December, 1900, and Berylda Jones is heading home to Bathurst for Christmas. Tragically, 'home' is where she and her beloved sister Greta live in terror, under the control of their sadistic Uncle Alec.But Berylda has a plan, borne out of desperation, to free herself and Greta from Alec for good - if she can only find the courage to execute it.Then, on New Year's Eve, just as Alec tightens his grip on the sisters, a stranger arrives at their gate - Ben Wilberry, a botanist in search of a particular native wildflower, with his friend, the artist Cosmo Thompson. Ben is oblivious to what depravity lies beyond this threshold and what follows is a journey that will take him and Berylda, and Greta and Cosmo, out to the old gold rush town of Hill End in search of a means to cure evil and a solution to what seems an impossible situation.Against the tumultuous backdrop of Australian Federation and the coming of the Women's Vote, Paper Daisiesis a story of what it means to find moral courage, of a crime that must be committed to see justice done and a sweet love that flourishes against the odds.

Paper Daisies

It is 1914 and Lithgow is booming, Daniel is a young German- Australian, a coalminer and a socialist. Francine is the Irish- Catholic, too good for this place daughter of the mine's owner. When their paths collide, they fall in love despite themselves.

Black Diamonds

The whole of the harbour was touched with gold – the tops of the quiet waves, warehouse roofs, the bulging folds of sails at rest, the tips of seagull wings – giving him one sweeping glimpse of beauty just as he was leaving, a vision of things as they ought always to be just as they were not... March, 1912. A sultry Indian summer hangs over the west coast of Australia and aboard the luxury steamship SS Koombana, three tales entwine. Irene Everley longs to leave her first-class fishbowl existence, secretly penning a gossip column as her life spirals out of control into soulless liaisons and alcohol, the long shadow of a tragedy clouding her view. James Sinclair, an investor on his way to Broome is not the man he says he is but can he be trusted? Abraham Davis, a wealthy dealer whose scandalous divorce is being dragged through the press, prepares to take the gamble of his life: to purchase an infamous, stolen pearl along the journey north. Perfectly round, perfectly pink, this pearl comes with a curse and with a warning – destroying all who keep it from returning to the sea.

Prologue -- The trailblazers -- The garment workers -- The mill workers -- The revolutionaries -- The miners -- The harvesters -- The cleaners -- The freedom fighters -- The movers -- The metalworkers -- The disabled workers -- The sex workers -- The prisoners -- Epilogue.

Walking

A tale of love, murder and misogyny. 'one of the most powerful books I've read in years' - Virginia Haussegger At Christmas, 1900, university student Berylda Jones is heading home from Sydney to Bathurst, and with customary reluctance, for 'home' is where she and her sister Greta live in quiet terror, under the control of their sadistic Uncle Alec. Berylda has a plan this time, though, to free herself and Greta from Alec for good - if she can only find the courage to execute it. On New Year's Eve, that plan begins to take fire. Just as Alec tightens his grip on the sisters, a stranger arrives at their gate - Ben Wilberry, a botanist in search of a particular native wildflower, with his friend, the artist Cosmo Thompson. So begins a journey that will take them all deep into the rugged wilderness of the old gold rush country of Hill End in search of a means to cure an unspeakable evil. Set at the dawn of Federation and the coming of the Women's Vote, Paper Daisies is an Australian gothic tale of murder and misogyny. A story of one woman's determination to see justice done, and the man who clears her path along the way.

Paper Daises

An immigrant journey from Ireland to Australia in the early 1900s, along threads of love, family, war and peace, Wild Chicory is a slice of ordinary life rich in history, folklore and fairy tale. And it&rsquo;s a portrait of the precious relationship between a granddaughter, Brigid, and her grandmother, Nell. From the windswept, emerald coast of County Kerry, to the slums of Sydney's Surry Hills; and from the bitter sectarian violence of Ulster, to tranquillity of rural New South Wales, Brigid weaves her grandmother's tales into a small but beautiful epic of romance and tragedy, of laughter and the cold reality of loss. It's tales, tall and true, that spur Brigid to write her own, too. Ultimately, here is a story of finding your feet in a new land – be that a new country, or a new emotional space – and the wonderful trove of narrative each of us carries with us wherever we might go.

A tale of longing, loss and growing love under the bright Australian sun. It's 1921 and the Great War has left in its wake untold tragedy, not only in lives lost, but in the guilt of survivors, the deep-set scars of old wounds and the sting of redoubled bigotries. In the tiny hamlet of Sunshine, on the far-flung desert's edge, three very different ex-servicemen - Jack Bell, an Aboriginal horseman; Snow McGlynn, a laconic, curmudgeonly farmer; and Art Lovelee, an eccentric engineer - find themselves sharing a finger of farmland along the Darling River, and not much else. That is, until Art's wife Grace, a battle-hardened nurse, gets to work on them all with her no-nonsense wisdom. Told with Kim Kelly's inimitable wit and warmth, Sunshine is a very Australian tale of home, hope and healing, of the power of growing life and love, and discovering that we are each other's greatest gifts. Praise for Kim Kelly 'colourful, evocative and energetic' - Sydney Morning Herald 'Kelly is a masterful creator of character and voice' - Julian Leatherdale 'Why can't more people write like this?' - The Age

Sunshine

'Kim Kelly seems to understand the sounds and scents of the country ... like you are looking through a wide and clear window back to the 40s.' - The West Australian On the cusp of summer 1939, another war has begun in Europe. Bernie Cooper is wondering what might be in it for her; she's looking for adventure, some way to stretch her wings. The boy next door, Gordon Brock, is wondering if Bernie will marry him - before he heads off on his own adventure, his first job as a geologist with an oil company in New Guinea. But the war has plans for them both neither could have imagined in their wildest nightmares. As Gordon braces for the Japanese invasion of Rabaul, Bernie finally finds her purpose in the midst of the battle being fought on home soil - against the worst drought in living memory, the menace of an unseen enemy, and the torment of not knowing if those dear to her are alive or dead. From the beaches of Sydney to the dusty heart of the continent, This Red Earth is a love letter to Australia, with all its beauty and terror, and a tale of telling the truth - before it's too late.

This Red Earth

'This is the story of a love greatly tested and of the resilience of ordinary Australians sucked into a pointless war by propaganda. It's enough to turn you into a war protester.' - Australian Women's Weekly It's 1914 and the coal town of Lithgow is booming. Daniel Ackerman is a serious young man, a miner, a socialist and German; Francine Connolly is the bourgeois, Irish-Catholic, too-good-for-this-place daughter of one of the mine owners. When a tragic accident forces them together, this class-crossed pair fall in love despite themselves. Before the signatures on their marriage certificate are dry, though, war erupts, and a much more terrifying obstacle confronts them. Against his principles but driven by a sense of solidarity, Daniel enlists; Francine, horrified, has no choice but to watch him go. Thrown into a daunting new world of separation and grief, they learn things about each other they might never have known in more certain times - hard lessons about heroism, sacrifice, and the thin line between bravery and stupidity. Told with freshness, verve and wit, Black Diamonds is the tale of a fierce young nation, Australia, and two fierce hearts who dare to discover what courage really means.

No conviction, no reward. It's 1868 and the gold rush is spreading across the wild west of New South Wales, bringing with it a new breed of colonial rogue - bushrangers. A world far removed from hardworking farm girl, Annie Bird, and her sleepy village on the outskirts of Sydney. But when a cruel stroke of fortune sees Annie orphaned and outcast, she is forced to head for the goldfields in search of her grandfather, a legendary tracker. Determined and dangerously naive, she sets off with little but a swag full of hope - and is promptly robbed of it on the road. Her cries for help attract another sort of rogue: Jem Fox, the waster son of a wealthy silversmith, who's already in trouble with the law - up to his neatly trimmed eyebrows in gambling debts. And now he does something much worse. He 'borrows' a horse and rides after the thieves, throwing Annie over the saddle as he goes. What follows is a breakneck gallop through the Australian bush, a tale of mistaken identity and blind bigotry, of two headstrong opposites tossed together by fate, their lives entwined by a quest to get back home - and the irresistible forces of love. 'Kim Kelly seems to understand the sounds and scents of the country' - The West Australian 'colourful, evocative and energetic' - Sydney Morning Herald 'impressive research' - Daily Telegraph 'Why can't more people write like this?' - The Age

Kim Kelly

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