Melinda Rucker Haynes

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New York

A Novel

In a small Mississippi town during the late 1950s, Even Grade, a twenty-eight-year-old Black man who grew up as an orphan, and Valuable Korner, the teenage white daughter of the local prostitute, search for love, family, and commitment as their lives intersect with that of Joody Two Sun, a seer who becomes Even's lover

Mother of Pearl

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Marking the debut of a stunning new literary talent, MOTHER OF PEARL captures the irony and beauty of life in the Deep South in exquisite prose that brings to mind Kaye Gibbons and Olive Ann Burns. But Haynes creates a wholly distinctive new style by drawing on her own Southern roots and the "noble country" language of her youth in this remarkable first novel.

Set in a small Mississippi town in the late 1950s, MOTHER OF PEARL is populated by wonderfully rich and original characters with themes of identity and the true meaning of family interwoven throughout. The story revolves around twenty-eight-year-old Even Grade, a black man who grew up an orphan, and Valuable Korner, a fifteen-year-old white girl whose is the daughter of the town whore and an unknown father. Their paths cross through Joody Two Sun, a seer, who sets up camp along the riverbank just outside of town and becomes Even's lover. Both Even and Valuable are seeking the family, love and commitment they never had, and their search ultimately takes both of them to places they never dreamed they'd go.

Told in beautifully naunced narrative with a staggering richness that resonates with emotional truth, MOTHER OF PEARL is a haunting, bittersweet tale of the search for identity and the power of renewal.



Texas

Mother of Pearl - First Edition

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Maryland

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Mother of Pearl, a beautifully crafted and moving story of redemption and renewal set in 1960s Mississippi.

Melinda Hayness "first novel of immense and staggering power" (Pat Conroy, author of Beach Music) was an unexpected sensation, chosen for Oprahs book club and selling more than half a million copies in hardcover. Now in the same devastatingly beautiful language that has won her critical and popular acclaim, Melinda Haynes returns to the country she knows so well -- the backwoods South of the 1960s -- to tell the story of a mysterious town and its inhabitants, each with their own afflictions and joys, each with their own secrets.

In sparsely populated George County, Mississippi, along a quiet dirt road lined by sharecropper houses, lies Chalktown -- a small village of folks who communicate mostly through the chalkboards hanging from their front porches. Down the road lives the Sheehand family: 16-year-old Hezekiah, his reckless sister Arena, his mentally disabled younger brother Yellababy, and their disaffected and often cruel mother, Susan Blair, whose husband has abandoned both the house and the family. One day, with Yellababy strapped to his back, Hez sets out for Chalktown, determined to plumb its mysteries, or maybe just to get away from his shabby homes oppressive atmosphere. And, on that same spring day, the family hes left behind will confront a tragedy that at once erases Hezs bitter past and paves the way for a hopeful future. Armed with a gothic and spiritual sensibility reminiscent of Flannery OConnor, Melinda Haynes weaves her characters lives and stories into an unforgettable tapestry of sorrow and salvation that confirms her place as one of our countrys most exciting and consistently brilliant new writers.

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Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl - First Edition

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

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Chalktown

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Chalktown

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl *FIRST EDITION*

Melinda Rucker Haynes

Mother of Pearl

Mother of Pearl FIRST EDITION