The Hollow Ground; Natalie Harnett
Thomas Dunne Books - May 13, 2014
Description
"We walk on fire or air, so Daddy liked to say. Basement floors too
hot to touch. Steaming green lawns in the dead of winter. Sinkholes,
quick and sudden, plunging open at your feet."
The underground
mine fires ravaging Pennsylvania coal country have forced
eleven-year-old Brigid Howley and her family to seek refuge with her
estranged grandparents, the formidable Gram and the black lung‒stricken
Gramp. Tragedy is no stranger to the Howleys, a proud Irish-American
clan who takes strange pleasure in the “curse” laid upon them
generations earlier by a priest who ran afoul of the Molly Maguires. The
weight of this legacy rests heavily on a new generation, when Brigid,
already struggling to keep her family together, makes a grisly discovery
in a long-abandoned bootleg mine shaft. In the aftermath, decades-old
secrets threaten to prove just as dangerous to the Howleys as the
burning, hollow ground beneath their feet.
Inspired by real-life events in Centralia and Carbondale, where devastating coal mine fires irrevocably changed the lives of residents, The Hollow Ground is an extraordinary debut with an atmospheric, voice-driven narrative and an indelible sense of place. Lovers of literary fiction will find in Harnett’s young, determined protagonist a character as heartbreakingly captivating as Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Inspired by real-life events in Centralia and Carbondale, where devastating coal mine fires irrevocably changed the lives of residents, The Hollow Ground is an extraordinary debut with an atmospheric, voice-driven narrative and an indelible sense of place. Lovers of literary fiction will find in Harnett’s young, determined protagonist a character as heartbreakingly captivating as Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.
That sounds very interesting and we are pretty familiar with that real life area.
ReplyDeleteDiane, this does sound "atmospheric", very real and gritty. I hope you'll enjoy this book.
ReplyDeleteI will have to keep a look-out for this one, thanks Diane :)
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds very intriguing to me!
ReplyDeleteSounds like such an interesting book, and as a Scout fan, I think I would enjoy the story and the protagonist.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an enticing review.
The book sounds interesting and I like the cover!
ReplyDelete