Between Glass and Steel

A family name can survive even when history forgets the man who carried it.

Born in 1896, William Percy Williams comes of age among the roaring glass furnaces and unforgiving steel mills of western Pennsylvania. As the son of George Williams and Josephine C. Payton Williams, he inherits more than a name-he inherits the struggle to build a life in a country where a Black man's labor is often recorded more carefully than his story.

William's journey carries him through marriage, fatherhood, industrial hardship, migration, loss, and choices that leave lasting consequences for those he loves. As time and distance threaten to pull the family apart, the people left behind fight to preserve their bonds and protect the name entrusted to them.

Generations later, William's descendants search faded documents and surviving records for the man hidden between official dates. What they uncover is an unforgettable story of endurance, sacrifice, absence, and the fragile ways a family legacy survives.

Grounded in family research and documented history, Between Glass and Steel: A Novel of William Percy Williams is a moving historical novel about Black labor, fatherhood, migration, memory, and the family ties that endure long after certainty disappears.