Mark Hopkins, the Philadelphia owner of a West Virginia coal mine, has his life become complicated when he's attracted to Sarah Austen, a lawyer and Boone County native, who is assisting an effort to stop surface mining in West Virginia. He also becomes involved in the life of an impoverished 12-year-old boy, Frank Arthur, who lives in a hollow bordering his mine. "Sensitive to the fact that mining coal has benefits as well as costs, author David Brown makes the struggles over mountaintop removal come alive in Serendipity Hollow without populating his tale with saintly environmentalists and evil company men. A West Virginian, Brown understands and dramatizes the clash of poverty and opportunity in the coalfields." —Geoffrey C. Fuller, West Virginia author and writing teacher "Gusty, fast-paced, Serendipity Hollow will please suspense fans." —Claude 'Bass' Halstead, retired coal miner