Out of the Darkness is based on the true story of a nineteenth-century child coal miner rising out of the ashes of poverty and tragedy to change the world. It's the story of greed, love, sacrifice, faith, and the courage to push aside fear and jump into the refiner's fire where the finest qualities of character are forged. In 1837, seven-year-old Thomas Wright followed in his family's footsteps into one of England's most dangerous coal mines. He struggled with childhood fears, working twelve-hour days, six days a week in the darkness 500 feet below ground. That was until disaster struck in one of England's most horrific accidents that changes the direction of his life and the course of history. This is the fast-moving story of a young boy overcoming the iron-fisted rule of the massively wealthy lord of the land, who owned not only much of South Yorkshire's coal mines and the villages in which the miners lived but also the mortgage on their lives. With the help of his family, he confronts the tyrannical system of industrial slavery, the lord's brutally psychopathic enforcer, and a society that fostered the oppression of the working class. From his desperate beginnings, we follow Tom on a path to a brilliant career, his love affair with a strong-willed woman, and his courageous fight to help change the course of industrial slavery in England. It's a masterfully told story of the great sweep of human desire for freedom and liberty, not just for himself but also for his children and his children's children. Like many immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century, Thomas Wright was drawn to what Abraham Lincoln called, "the last best hope on earth" and has left a vast American legacy, including his seven-year-old great, great, great, great grandson Cole, pictured on the front cover of this book.