The two novellas and three short stories in this new collection by Governor General's Award winner Leon Rooke are united by place and mood. The title novella, set in a southern post-WWII American town—a kind of "comic Winesburg, Ohio, " as the author describes it—sports a Watermelon Queen, a ten-year-old businessman, and other colourful eccentrics, all of whom are puzzled by the familiar lead in a new sexy movie that?s come to town. The second novella takes place further south, in a small village perched in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Told in the style of Jose Saramago or Garcia Marquez, daring young women, mad mothers, and traumatized children are affected radically by the magic of their world. With these joyful, touching, brilliantly crafted pieces, Rooke speaks to a time and sensibility long forgotten.
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