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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Jan 2004, 320 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2005, 336 pages
From the book jacket: In the tradition of Fannie Flagg and Lorna
Landvik, The Saints and Sinners of Okay County is a heartfelt
and compelling debut novel with an unforgettable heroine. It's
the story of a woman whose ability to see the futures of
others leads her right back into her own troubled past. It's
the summer of 1976, and it seems like the entire state of
Oklahoma is celebrating America's bicentennial. But in the
small town of Okay, Aletta Honor has much more on her mind
than flags and fireworks. She's pregnant with her fourth child
and hasn't seen her husband, Jimmy, in weeks. Flat broke and
desperate for some cash, she decides to set up a food stand on
the front lawn during the Okay Czech Festival. But when a
woman touches her hand in sympathy, Aletta is completely
unsettled - she sees the woman in a tragic accident, and gives
her a warning that will save her life. When the woman returns
the next day to thank her, Aletta figures out how to save her
own life. With all the courage she can muster she sets up as a
psychic reader. But doing readings for people opens a door she
thought she had locked long ago, as memories of a terrible
event come flooding back. She may not be able to see into her
future, but she realizes she must face the demons in her past
if she's going to make a new life for herself and her kids.
First, though, she'll have to tell a few fortunes. . . .
Comment:
'Dunbar's novel is both sensitively written and absorbing.
Tough, self-effacing Aletta is an appealing heroine, and
Dunbar's careful and understated writing keeps her novel from
becoming a generic story of small-town female grit....This is
an impressive first novel, with a warmhearted and tough
heroine.' - Booklist.
Selected Review:
'Dunbar's novel is both sensitively written and absorbing.
Tough, self-effacing Aletta is an appealing heroine, and
Dunbar's careful and understated writing keeps her novel from
becoming a generic story of small-town female grit....This is
an impressive first novel, with a warmhearted and tough
heroine.' - Booklist.
This review
first ran in the July 6, 2005
issue of BookBrowse Recommends.
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