The undertaker's daughter

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Edward Swift

Not long ago the Big Thicket of East Texas was still one of those places singular in its southernness, like the Mississippi Delta or the Carolina Low Country. Now its old-timers and their ways are nearly gone. They will not be forgotten, though, for in My Grandfather's Finger Edward Swift recalls a Big Thicket populated by family and friends as gloriously vibrant and enigmatic as the land itself. We meet, among others, Mother, a widowed war bride who would spring-clean the inside of her house with a garden hose, and Aunt Coleta, childlike and always surrounded by an entourage of kids half enchanted by her and half scared witless. Then there are Uncle Frank, who, with self-fulfilling flair, would have drawn a pistol at the merest suggestion that his family was dysfunctional, and of course, Grandfather, who lost his finger to a machete and his mind to cough medicine.

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Tobias Wolff

Wolff's account of his boyhood and the process of growing up includes paper routes, whiskey, scouting, fistfights, friendship, and betrayal in 1950s America.

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R. Kent Rasmussen

The creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain has long been regarded as the quintessential American writer. Critical Companion to Mark Twain, an updated and expanded edition of the award-winning Mark Twain A to Z, is the essential reference to Mark Twain's life and writings. All new to this two-volume edition are more than 30 extensive critical analyses on Mark Twain's most important works and a concise biography of Mark Twain. In addition, there are more than 350 completely new entries, several new appendixes and maps, and more than 100 new illustrations. Original entries have been updated and expanded to incorporate more details and to account for new developments in the field of Mark Twain studies. With more than 150,000 words of new material and a new, student-friendly structure, Critical Companion to Mark Twain is the essential reference for students, librarians, scholars, and fans of Mark Twain. Coverage includes: A concise but comprehensive biography of Mark Twain; Detailed synopses of, and critical commentaries on, all of Mark Twain's major works; Discussions of all the characters and places in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and major characters and fictional places in other works; Entries on family, friends, contemporaries, places, publishers, topics, and more; Appendixes, including a glossary of terms used by Mark Twain, a chronology, a bibliography, and much more. - Publisher.

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Jeffrey Meyers

This biography of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a giant of American literature who invented both the horror and detective genres, is a portrait of extremes: a disinherited heir, a brilliant but exploited author and editor, a man who veered radically from temperance to rampant debauchery, an agnostic who sought a return to religion at the end of his life. Acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers explores the writer's turbulent life and career, including his marriage and multiple, simultaneous romances, his literary feuds, and his death at an early age under bizarre and troubling circumstances. - Back cover.