Ava Maynard makes the difficult decision to leave her small coal mining town in Eastern Kentucky to make a life for herself and her son, Joshua, in the city. Her husband, Collis, won’t leave the mountains, even though he has been laid off from his job as a miner. When tragedy strikes, Ava reluctantly slips back into her spot in this troubled world, relying on her deepest friendships to guide her.

“‘Deep Belly of the Earth” takes the most basic elements of story—a time, a place, it’s people—and connects them with an effortless and reverential grace.   Stephanie Whetstone has written a novel about two kinds of excavation:  strip mining and its environmental impact on landscape and community, and the equally destructive hollowing-out of grief.  Many novels aspire to being topical and timeless at once, but few do without sacrificing mystery and emotional momentum.  “Deep Belly of the Earth,” like the place and people it depicts, is both hard-edged and humane.”

—Michael Parker, author of I Am the Light of This World

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