My Grandfather's Finger

Swift, Edward

ISBN 10: 0820321001 / ISBN 13: 9780820321004

Published by University of Georgia Press, 1999

About this Item

Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.

Seller Inventory # GRP102419366

Bibliographic Details

• Title: My Grandfather's Finger
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820321001
• ISBN 13: 9780820321004
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1St Edition.
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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. From Camp Ruby to nearby Woodville and all the swamps, bayous, and forests in between, Swift shows us a place and time so fecund with humor, tragedy, and good talk that, in growing up there, he had no choice but to become a novelist.

We meet, among many 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.

A mystical world of carnivals, talking fiddles, houses on wheels, atomic bombs, and total-immersion baptisms, Edward Swift’s Big Thicket was also a world in which he was loved unconditionally―and that alone makes it worth getting to know.

About the Author

EDWARD SWIFT is a novelist and visual artist who lives in New York. He is the author of five books, including Mother of Pearl and Splendora, the latter of which has been performed on the stage and adapted for film.