"Whip-poor-will Hollow" takes place in the coal region of southwestern Pennsylvania in the 1950's. It is a book of courage and action. Michael, its teen hero, blames himself for his friend Daniel's crushed leg, because his courage failed him the day of the accident at an abandoned mine shaft. Alfie, his arch rival, supports this view. Through a series of encounters -- a stranger, who talks a down-to-earth brand of "metaphysics: " the healing of a...