The Bible Saleman
Aug 8, 2008
The Bible Salesman
Author: Clyde Edgerton
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pub. Date: August 2008
ISBN-13: 9780316117517
First off I want to point out that Clyde is on the roster of authors for the 3 Day Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia, that's occurring at the end of August.
His schedule is:
10:00 a.m. "New Stories from the South" panel with ZZ Packer and Ron Rash
11:15 a.m. "E(d)ge(rton), the Filibuster" panel with John T. Edge and John Egerton
1:45 p.m. Solo appearance reading from and talking about "The Bible Salesman"
You can find details about his appearances and read the entire
festival schedule online here: http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/2008/Schedule/index.php
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Set after World War II, The Bible Salesman is a story about Preston, a car thief with aspirations of becoming a big time crime boss one day, and Henry, a young traveling bible salesman who's not quite as naive as people might think.
Preston runs into Henry hitchhiking at the same time he's in the market for a new sidekick to drive stolen cars for him. He cons Henry into believing he's part of an FBI sting attempting to close down a nationwide car theft ring and needs his help. He offers Henry a substantially larger sum of money to do this then he was earning selling bibles.
The books goes back in time during quite a few of the chapters to give the history of Henry and how he came to end up on the road selling bibles and what drives him to attempt to follow the bible so closely in his personal life, but also what causes him to veer off that path quite often.
Eventually Henry needs to make a decision on what path to follow stay on in his life, especially when he starts to get ideas that perhaps Preston truly isn't an FBI agent and just maybe they're not retrieving stolen cars. Things quickly turn ugly once the doubt starts.
This book has a lot of quirky, humorous, somewhat macabre moments thrown in as they travel the road meeting unusual people - you'll love the old woman who throws her voice, making her cats quote bible verses on a regular basis!
