Earl in the Yellow Shirt: A Novel
When the matriarch of the Scurvy family, an impoverished clan living in backwoods Georgia, dies in childbirth, her teenage daughter takes over care of her newborn sibling, while her brothers take on the risky job of running moonshine in order to earn themoney to bury their mother
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The impoverished Scurvy family - the scourge of Swanoochee County in south Georgia - must somehow raise the money to hold a proper funeral for their mother, who has died giving birth to a baby girl. Responsibility for the newborn falls unceremoniously upon Loujean, the only sister among three brothers and a useless father, and the sixteen-year-old accepts the infant as both a pleasant burden and a glimmer of goodness in her life. The other spark of hope for Loujean is Earl - her gangly, chivalrous redneck suitor, who says the wrong things but lives by a good heart.With few prospects for burying her mother, it is up to Loujean's three brothers to come up with a solution. Buck, the eldest, breaks ranks with a generations-long, impassable feud and approaches the local county commissioner (and crook) to earn the money. Pee Wee, a perpetually intoxicated Korean War veteran, means well but can barely fend for himself, much less provide for others. The youngest is Alamand, a sensitive boy whose artistic brilliance makes him incompatible with his native backwoods community, who reacts to his mother's death with a soul-searching retreat. Lastly there is Earl - the boys' aloof companion, looking to win Loujean's heart - who stumbles onto his own unlikely heroism though simple kindness and sacrifice. Dressed up in his good yellow shirt, Earl is at his best as he searches for a way to land on his feet and repair the dysfunction around him.
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