Hollow Ground — Stephen Marion

When Gary left Zinctown, Tennessee, he left behind a father whom he couldn't please, a long-dead brother, and a young woman carrying his child. But after fourteen years, Gary has returned. His adolescent son Taft is under the precarious influence of an ex-convict uncle and a grandfather obsessed with documenting the town's history. Taft's mother has grown hard and used to doing things for herself. And the small town, gutted from below by the mines that support its residents, is quietly being eaten alive.
"Hollow Ground" signals the arrival of one of the most astonishing Southern voices to come along in years.