A gracious plenty

Description

In the lush and isolated cemetery of a small Southern town, Finch Nobles, the narrator of this inventive novel, tends to the flowers and shrubs that surround the monuments of people who were not known to her while they lived but who in death have become her lifeline. Badly burned in a household accident when she was just four, Finch grows into a courageous and feisty loner. She eschews the pity and awkward stares of the people of her hometown and discovers that if she listens closely enough, she can hear the voices of those who have gone before. Finally, when she speaks, they answer back, telling their stories in a remarkable chorus of regrets, explanations, and insights. But the infant Marcus, son of the town's mayor, died before he learned to speak and can only wail away the hours. The roots of his anguish are revealed in a crescendo of lasting resonance that ties together the outcast Finch, her dead friends, and the living community outside the cemetery's gates.

First Sentence

AIN'T YOU GOT NO RESPECT for the Dead?"

Subjects

Other Editions

• A gracious plenty: a novelHarmony Books1997-01-01
• A Gracious PlentyRandom House Trade1997-09-01
• A Gracious PlentyPaperbackRandom House Trade1997-09-01
• A Gracious PlentyHardcoverRandom House Value Publishing1997-09-08
• A gracious plentyThorndike Press1999-01-01
• A Gracious PlentyThree Rivers Press1999-03-16