Quite a Year for Plums

Anyone who has read the best-selling "Mama Makes Up Her Mind" or listened to Bailey White's commentaries on NPR knows that she is a storyteller of inimitable wit and charm. Now, in her stunninglyaccomplished first novel, she introduces us to the peculiar yet lovable people who inhabit a small town in south Georgia. Meet serious, studious Roger, the peanut pathologist and unlikely love object of half the town'swomen. Meet Roger's ex-mother-in-law, Louise, who teams up with an ardent typographer in an attempt to attract outer-space invaders with specific combinations of letters and numbers. And meet Della, the bird artist whocaptivates Roger with the sensible but enigmatic notes she leaves on things she throws away at the Dumpster ("This fan works, but makes a clicking sound and will notoscillate").

Heartbreakingly tender, often hilarious, Quite a Year for Plums is a delectable treat from a writer who has been called a nationaltreasure. "From the Trade Paperback edition."