There is an excellent and very readable book by Catherine Paton Black called 'At The Coalface'. It's her autobiography of the Miners' Strike years, and an account of her husband's struggles to find work in Lanarkshire as a miner. He moved to Nottinghamshire and got a job underground at Bevercotes mine. When the whole pit went on strike (apart from a few 'scabs') she turned the pit canteen into a huge soup kitchen, and stridently supported the strikers facing police brutality.
The Strike divided families and caused terrible hardship and suffering. From my viewpoint, the life of a miner was terrible anyway. She gives some graphic and illuminating accounts of the conditions underground, dreadful accidents and grievous health problems of the men. Her whole life, and that of her husband, was one of backbreaking work, poverty, danger and despair. I was quite relieved when he found work above ground eventually, but his health was shot to pieces. If one reads this book, one has an insight into the political situation during those terrible times, and some inside views of Thatcher, the Police and the miners.

'At The Coalface' by Catherine Paton Black (publisher Headline)
ISBN -10 0755363256
ISBN-13 978-0755363254