Coal Town Writer Natalie S. Harnett

By Joseph Peters

 

 

 

 

Her Debut Novel “The Hollow Ground”

Recently, I was given a pretty amazing opportunity to interview writer Natalie S. Harnett, author of “The Hollow Ground,” her debut work of literary fiction inspired by real-life events in a Pennsylvania coal town where an underground mine fire still terrorizes what’s left of the small town today.

After delving into “The Hollow Ground” (which is a great read that I highly recommend) I asked Harnett some questions about the story, history, characters, and her life in general—such as her experience with the mines and life in Pennsylvania.

Coal Cracker: What was your inspiration for writing a book about Pennsylvania coal mine fires and the experiences of those who lived around them and had to endure them?

Natalie S. Harnett: During the 1970s, while I was a young child, my grandfather lived in the Pocono area of Pennsylvania and through him. I became familiar with the nearby city of Carbondale. It was back then, in my childhood years, that my desire to write about Carbondale formed. There was something about the city’s steep, narrow streets and large, often dilapidated, homes that called to me.

It wasn’t until years later, though, that I had the inspiration for Brigid’s story (in “The Hollow Ground”) and knew I wanted to set the novel in Carbondale (which I renamed Barrendale in the book, a previous name for Carbondale). From my grandfather’s neighbor I’d heard about how coal mine fires had sunk houses and poisoned people, but at that time, I’d had no intention of writing about a coal mine fire. In fact I didn’t even know about Carbondale’s fire until I started doing research on the city.

Gradually, as I learned more and more about that fire and the horrific conditions the residents had survived, I knew I also wanted to tell the story of the fire. That’s when “The Hollow Ground” really started to take shape.

CC: Female protagonists have been becoming increasingly popular. What was your reasoning behind choosing 11-year-old Brigid Howley as the character to tell your story, rather than one of her older relatives? More specifically, what made you want to tell Brigid’s story over the rest?

NH: “The Hollow Ground” is my first published novel, but it’s not my first novel. It’s my fourth. I wrote all my previous fiction in third person because a college professor had convinced me third person was better than first. As I was looking to start a new novel, I realized that I really wanted to try my hand at first person. It’s been a long time so it’s hard for me to say for sure, but I think I chose a young girl because I’d always wanted to write a book with a narrator similar to Francie in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” I also wanted to write a novel with a young girl character inspired by my mother. Though my mother did not grow up in coal country, she has very vivid memories of her childhood and I wanted to draw on those. As I mentioned, I hadn’t initially planned to write about the fires, so I created this young girl’s voice and wrote nearly an entire draft of the novel without the fires. Then once I found out about the fires, I rewrote the novel but kept her voice.

CC: What was your inspiration to start writing and keep going with it?

NH: From at least the age of 7 or 8, I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t start writing outside of the classroom, though, until I was around 10. I remember when a poem of mine won a county-wide contest when I was in 5^th grade. It was such a thrill. I think it was from then on I was hooked on trying to get published. I went to college and graduate school for writing and won or was a finalist for several awards, but it wasn’t until after grad school that I started getting published. In a way, it’s hard to explain. There’s just something inside me that keeps wanting to write, no matter what happens with that writing.

CC: (Spoiler alert) Early on in “The Hollow Ground,” there is a tragic loss within the Howley family. Was this to signify the “curse” that haunts the family or to give the book a more dramatic beginning to draw in the reader?

NH: Once I learned about the mine fires, I knew I wanted to write about them. The only problem was that I’d already written an entire draft of the novel! So, I scrapped that draft and started again. This was, of course, painful. Yet it wound up actually being helpful because it helped me create a stronger, clearer plot.

I knew that to tell the story of the family and of the fires I had to create events that involved each. I knew I wanted a dramatic moment to come early and draw the reader in.

These fires have all sorts of terrible, jaw-dropping consequences. They cause subsidence, gas poisoning, steaming ground. They also cause sinkholes. I thought, what if there was a sinkhole that sunk part of the house and nearly killed [a beloved character]? I worked on a draft of this scene but found multiple problems with it. I mean, how does only part of a house sink into the ground? I thought it was too unbelievable to have the entire house sink. Also, I wanted the family to survive. It was getting too complicated.

Finally I did what I’d never had the nerve to do before. I decided to have a beloved character die, and die early. It was simple and massively dramatic and set Brigid off on her journey.

CC: Where did the idea for the family curse come from? Why do they believe so heavily in the curse and not just that bad things can and will happen in life?

NH: The curse came from a curse that is supposed to be on Centralia, PA [where a mine fire still burns today]. As legend has it, in the 1860s a priest in Centralia was speaking out against the violent acts of the local Molly Maguires [A secret group of Irish immigrant miners]. In revenge, three of the Mollies attacked him and, as the legend goes, the priest then cursed the entire town of Centralia and said that in 100 years not a single building but the church will stand. That curse has largely come true, almost to the year. When I read that, it gave me chills… and inspiration. I thought what if the priest had cursed not only the town, but the Mollies who attacked him and their descendants? The Howley family is descended from one of those Mollies. That’s why they believe so fiercely in the curse. After all, they’ve had so much tragedy occur in their lives it seems to give the curse credibility.

CC: Could you tell us a little bit about your background? What was your life like growing up? Was it, in any way, like any of your characters?

NH: Thankfully, it really wasn’t. My father’s union was on strike a few times when I was a kid and money was very tight, but it certainly wasn’t poverty, though I think it gave me some insight into how poor our lives could potentially become. My parents came from what could be called dysfunctional families. They’re the inspiration for Brigid. I wanted to write about a character who grows up in very difficult family circumstances and manages to still be a forgiving and loving person.    

CC: Did you ever write for a newspaper before you turned to novel writing?

NH: I did some freelance journalism for a little while and got a piece into the New York Times, which was quite a thrill, but I never really pursued journalism. My first published fiction piece didn’t come until shortly after grad school when the Madison Review published the first chapter of the novel I was writing at the time.

CC: What’s next in your writing career?

NH: I’m finishing a novel set in the 1950s that is inspired by my great grandmother’s and her servant’s lives. My great grandmother was a diamond dealer, and she came over from Amsterdam under very shady circumstances. Her servant was a white woman who was basically her slave. That servant was never paid a dime, never had a day off and, once she became too old to work, my great grandmother gave her away to my grandmother. Their story has haunted me since I was a little kid, and it’s been a very powerful experience writing about them.

 CC: Do you have any advice for the aspiring novelists and journalists?

NH: I’d say to read as much as possible. I so wish I’d read more earlier on when I’d had more time to do it! I’d also say to be ‘out there’ as much as you can. Enter contests, go to readings or author events. There are also so many ways to interact with other aspiring writers online. Do as much of that as possible. I’ve learned one connection leads to another, and you have to be out there doing things to get those connections.