About the Author

Gavin W. "Bill" Gonzalez was born in 1909 in Anmoore, West Virginia, the son of immigrants from Asturias, Spain. The Gonzalezes and their neighbors built a lively community centered around a place called Pinnick Kinnick Hill. Though Gavin Gonzalez eventually moved away from his childhood home, he never forgot West Virginia, often taking his children and grandchildren on pilgrimages to Pinnick Kinnick Hill. Only after his death in 1988 did the family discover that he had written a memoir recounting the stories of his youth. The book is partly a memoir, partly a history, and partly a novel, all combined in a sometimes heartwarming and sometimes bittersweet celebration of how one small Spanish community survived and then prospered in the ethnic cauldron that was America. Published in side-by-side English and Spanish, Pinnick Kinnick Hill: An American Story is a story of struggle and disappointment, but ultimately one of resilience, cooperation, and one man's discovery of America.

Reviews

."..a welcome addition to the growing literature on Appalachian immigration." Jerry Bruce Thomas, "Journal of Appalachian Studies"

."..pure Americana, rich indeed in its evocation of a time long gone by...." Stephen Goode, "The Washington Times"

""Pinnick Kinnick Hill" is part novel, part memoir. It's a history lesson and a love song. And while the book is published in both English and Spanish (the same narrative in Spanish appears on each facing page), the book really only has one universal language shared by immigrant families everywhere: the language of love, sacrifice, discipline, and devotion." Jim Bissett, The Dominion Post