Something There Is

In December 1939, recent college graduate Ramona Campbell leaves her family for a teaching job in the coal mining town of Winn-Slope, West Virginia. As Ramona begins a new chapter of her life, she learns to navigate the challenges of her job and life in the town. But her major challenge is one that she can’t seem to get a grip on: what to do about Geoff Hamrick. Their up-and-down relationship leaves Ramona wanting to be rid of him while at the same time wanting to be with him.

Something There Is is a fascinating look at the late 1930s in West Virginia, where there were two different sets of standards: one for the general public and one for female teachers.

About the Author

Leona Gates Griffith was born in the little mining town of Filbert, West Virginia, in 1915. Her family moved to Williamson and then Fairmont, where Leona graduated from high school and Fairmont State College. In 1939, she moved to Widen, West Virginia, to teach in the high school there, teaching English, French, Latin, journalism, drama, physical education, and home economics. She taught in several different schools while raising her three sons with her husband, Ted, until her retirement in 1979. Griffith passed away in 2013.