The Hollow Ground

April 1, 2014

Underground coal mine fires can destroy more than buildings and landscapes. As homes fall into sinkholes, families fall further into poverty and anger. Add crippling family secrets to the mix and you get the world of Brigid Howley. Only 11 years old, Brigid already has experienced the ways love can shrivel up under the burdens of grief and loss. When her family is forced to move in with her paternal grandparents, old memories are stirred. Just as the giant ditches being dug to contain the blazes below the earth are destroying the very countryside they are meant to save, so Brigid's uncovering of long-held secrets tears the family apart and shows a tentative way forward. VERDICT Brigid is no ordinary hard-luck heroine; her voice rings true, offering a matter-of-fact telling that never falls into self-pity or melodrama. Set against the 1960s Pennsylvania coal mine fires, this debut novel is a dark and rewarding read. [Library marketing.]--Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2014
For young Brigid Howley and her Irish American family, life in their small Pennsylvania town is hell on earth. Precariously poised atop rampaging underground coal-mine fires, their home is at the constant mercy of elements that rage below the surface. It's an apt metaphor for the tempest that also brews within Brigid's home. Her father, Adrian, can't hold down a job since a mining disaster claimed the life of his brother, his parents' favored son, Frank. Brigid's mother, Dolores, is embittered by the poverty they can never escape. When yet another coal fire claims their home, they are forced to move in with Adrian's parents, who make no secret of the disdain they feel for their surviving son's family. How much longer can the miasma simmering underground mask the deeply held secrets dividing the cursed Howley family? Or will it take another tragedy before answers are finally brought to light? Harnett's deeply atmospheric historical novel of the harsh old mining life captures the despair of a family at the mercy of the earth's elements and their own worst impulses.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)