A Slave of the Ring by J. Monk Foster is about the sweet love story between Paul and Mary in the coal mines and mills of Ashlynton. Excerpt: "It was a sharp morning a few weeks after the advent of the New Year, and the frosty air was filled with the strident screams of the steam whistles, or 'buzzers,' at the neighboring collieries, announcing to all whom it concerned that the hour of half-past five a.m. had arrived."