SUNBURY – A northeast Pennsylvania author has written a book set in Centralia. Natalie Harnett, penned “The Hollow Ground,” a coming-of-age tale inspired by the Centralia and Carbondale, PA coal mine fires. The book recently won the John Gardner Fiction Book Award.
Harnett was on WKOK Sunrise program and gave more details about the book, “It’s a story about a young girl who goes into an abandoned mine shaft, beneath her town and she makes a goodly discovery, and in the aftermath of that, old secrets are uncovered that threaten to unhinge the entire family.”
Harnett says the book also talks about a curse over Centralia, “There was a priest who was speaking out against the acts of the local Molly Maguires. And so this priest in Centralia spoke out against these Mollies doing these violent acts and in revenge, three of the Mollies attacked that priest. And as legend has it, the priest cursed the entire town of Centralia.”
You can listen to more of Harnett’s interview and hear an excerpt from the book online at wkok.com. (Matt Catrillo)
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/148076524″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]