The Hollow Ground: A Novel
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. --Carol Haggas