Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Acknowledgments


A Letter from Murmur Lee Harp to Charleston Rowena Mudd

Murmur Lee Harp

Charleston Rowena Mudd

October 3, 2001 Murmur Lee Harp’s Last Will and Testament, Handwritten in Baroque Cursive Script on a Yellow Legal Pad in Purple Ink and Notarized by Lashandra P. Pacetti

A Grocery List, Written in Murmur Lee Harp’s Excessive Cursive Script, Unread, Lost Amid the Cobwebs Behind Her Rusting Refrigerator

Murmur Lee Harp

Murmur Lee Harp Sees a Moment in the Life of Her Great-Great-Grandfather Oster Harp

Billy Speare

Edith Piaf

Lucinda Smith

Dr. Zachary Klein

Murmur Lee Harp Sees a Moment in the Life of Her Mother, Lily Cordelia Harp

William S. Speare

Sainthood: Murmur Lee Harp Reveals the Zenith of Her Childhood

Charleston Rowena Mudd

A Letter Written by Father Matthew Jaeger to Bishop Haywood F. Carroll, which Father Jaeger Never Mailed, Opting to Hide It in a Secret Pocket He Whittled into the Cover of His Favorite Book,From Here to Eternity

Disgrace: Murmur Lee Harp Reveals the Apex of Her Sainthood

A Letter Written by Father Matthew Jaeger to God, Never Mailed, Just Balled Up and Then Burned in the Rectory’s Kitchen Sink

Four Journal Entries Written by Murmur Lee Harp During the Time of Her Independent Scholastic Study of the Medical Phenomenon Known as Musicogenic Epilepsy

Charleston Rowena Mudd

Murmur Lee Harp Sees Her Daughter

A Letter Murmur Lee Harp Wrote to Blossom Cordelia Charleston Nathanson Harp and Tucked in the Pocket of the Dress the Child Was Cremated In

Lucinda Smith

Dr. Zachary Klein

Murmur Lee Harp Reflects on Her Life as a Catholic, a Witch, a Parent of a Dead Child, the Wife of a Bad Man, and the Friend of a Tragic Couple

Charleston Rowena Mudd

A Note Written by Murmur Lee Harp and Passed to Charlee Mudd in Their Eighth-Grade Homeroom, Written in Valentine Red Ink, Hearts Splattered Across the Page

A Love Note from Murmur Lee Harp to Lawrence Fairhope Davis, Written Eight Months After Her Divorce and During Her Brief Employment at the Catholic Day School Located in St. Augustine’s Old City (It Should Be Noted That the Affair Ended Shortly After Murmur Sent This Epistolary Rumination on the Nature of Love)

A Letter Murmur Lee Harpn Wrote to Her Husband, Erik Nathanson, Two Days After He Walked Out on Her

An E-Mail from Murmur Lee Harp to Billy Speare

Billy Speare

Murmur Lee Harp Sees Her First Date with Billy Speare

Edith Piaf

Lucinda Smith

Charleston Rowena Mudd

Dr. Zachary Klein

Edith Piaf

Dr. Zachary Klein

Charleston Rowena Mudd

Murmur Lee Harp

Lucinda Smith

Charleston Rowena Mudd

Billy Speare

Murmur Lee Harp

Edith Piaf

Billy Speare

Murmur Lee Harp

Charleston Rowena Mudd

Murmur Lee Harp


Reading Group Guide

Also by Connie May Fowler

About the Author

Praise for The Problem with Murmur Lee

Copyright Page