DON'T LET THE TITLE of this book fool you, this collection of short stories by Randall Ivey is Southern through and through. Set in the upcountry of South Carolina in the fictitious County of Compton, Ivey's stories introduce us to a cast of memorable characters. From the bookish and idealistic Jane Poage who falls for a handsome New England thespian, to the eleven-year-old minister and faith-healer Reverend Benny Troy Hoyt, to the peculiar, yet misunderstood Yankee high school chorus teacher, Mrs. Stratton, Ivey's stories are certain to shock, entertain, and perhaps even move one to tears. If you have ever "visited" William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, or "passed through" James Kibler's Clay Bank County, you will most certainly want to add Ivey's Compton County to your literary travel itinerary. EDITORIAL REVIEWS: "Randall Ivey manages, quite implausibly, to marry the grace, delicacy, and devotion to manners of Henry James with the dark-hued, confessional Americana of Sherwood Anderson.... With this collection, Ivey takes his place as a significant voice in the great tradition of Southern narrative." -Jim Clark "Don't be fooled. There is more to these comic stories than comedy. Beneath the laughter the tear of sympathy is always present." -James Everett Kibler COMMENTS ON PREVIOUS SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS BY RANDALL IVEY: "Set in the contemporary American South, these stories resound with universal themes and touch the heart with their humor and insight." "Each story is marked by the writer's versatility and scored by a chorus of distinct voices, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, urbane and primitive." "classic comic Southern storytelling"
