Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2012
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
With enormous heart and dazzling agility, Amy Franklin-Willis expertly mines the fault lines in one Southern working-class family. Driven by the soulful voices of forty-two-year-old Ezekiel Cooper and his mother, Lillian, The Lost Saints of Tennessee journeys from the 1940s to 1980s as it follows Zeke’s evolution from anointed son, to honorable sibling, to unhinged middle-aged man.
After Zeke loses his twin brother in a mysterious drowning and his wife to divorce, only ghosts remain in his hometown of Clayton, Tennessee. Zeke makes the decision to leave town in a final attempt to escape his pain, throwing his two treasured possessions - a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and his dead brother’s ancient dog - into his truck, and heads east. He leaves behind two young daughters and his estranged mother, who reveals her own conflicting view of the Cooper family story in a vulnerable but spirited voice stricken by guilt over old sins and clinging to the hope that her family isn’t beyond repair.
When Zeke finds refuge with cousins in Virginia horse country, divine acts in the form of severe weather, illness, and a new romance collide, leading Zeke to a crossroads where he must decide the fate of his family.
"Starred Review." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. Poignant...Franklin-Willis plumbs the depths of family dynamics, compassionately depicting her characters as they struggle with situations over which they have no control." - Library Journal
"Franklin-Willis has endless compassion for her working-class southern characters...[An] uplifting story of one man's attempt to make a better life for himself and his family." - Booklist
"Franklin-Willis's well-rendered debut charms." - Publishers Weekly
"The gifted novelist, Amy Franklin-Willis, has written a riveting, hardscrabble book on the rough, hardscrabble south, which has rarely been written about with such grace and compassion. It reminded me of the time I read Dorothy Allison's classic, Bastard out of Carolina." - Pat Conroy
"The Lost Saints of Tennessee is a joy - a wonderful, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting story about the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood and the human will to survive. I was deeply moved by it and equally impressed." - Elizabeth George, author of the bestselling Inspector Lynley series
"Franklin-Willis has grace on the page." - Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard out of Carolina
"Amy Franklin-Willis has given us a first novel full of great love, pathos, and change. A rich and compelling tale of a large family and the complexities of the human spirit, you will not want to put The Lost Saints of Tennessee down. It is a completely satisfying read." - Jeanne Ray, author of Julie and Romeo and Eat Cake
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