Walking Across Egypt

by Clyde Edgerton Narrated by Norman Dietz

Overview

Best-selling author Clyde Edgerton blends a comfy Southern setting and quirky characters into an unforgettable journey through a spirited senior citizen's world. Filled with the details of everyday life, this novel evokes the homespun wisdom and offbeat humor that have become Edgerton's trademark. Meet Mattie Rigsby, 78, who keeps a clean house and bakes the best pound cake in Listre, North Carolina. Her children grown, she lives a comfortable and independent life. Her orderly days are about to be disrupted, however, by a stray. Unkempt and unloved, teenaged and delinquent, Wesley Benfield just might need a piece of her apple pie and a verse or two of Walking Across Egypt, her favorite hymn. As Mattie and Wesley come together, she will fill your heart with appreciation for a generation who still remembers that life is a lot better when it's filled with good food and good manners. The sequel, Killer Diller , is also available from Recorded Books. Narrator Norman Dietz's performance adds just the right flavor to Wesley, Mattie, and her baffled relatives.

Editorial Reviews

Kathryn Morton

''Walking Across Egypt'' (the title is from a hymn) lacks the coherent form of the first book and struggles at the start against the author's penchant for picturesque farce. -- New York Times

Library Journal

This second novel by the author of Raney is warm and comforting, like a visit to Grandma's. Mattie Rigsbee, at 78, is slowing down. She plans her funeral so as not to be a burden; she supports the local Baptist church and entertains herself with hymns at the parlor piano; she tries not to meddle in her children's lives, though she does wish they'd marry; she longs for grandchildren. Then comes Wesley. Reared in an orphanage until he graduated to the reformatory, Wesley touches her heart, revives a life gone to seed. Just as he needs a grandmother's love and stability, so Mattie needs his challenge, dependence, and love. How she reconciles that need before family, neighbors, and church congregation is a beautiful story of determination, made more poignant by a Southern small-town setting. BOMC alternate. Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

School Library Journal

YA A quietly humorous story set in a small town in North Carolina. Seventy-eight year old Mattie Riggsbee, spunky and determined, has one regret: she has no grandchildren, as her son and daughter inconveniently remain unmarried. The story gathers momentum after a slightly sluggish start, when Wesley Benfield, wayward teenager and orphan, comes into Mattie's life. Their need for each other is apparent, and their attempts to get together, despite the disapproval of Mattie's family and neighbors, are the focus of the story. Wesley is captivated by Mattie's good cooking and grandmotherly attention, and when he escapes from a house of detention, he heads straight to Mattie. There is a hilarious scene in church, where the fleeing Wesley and the pursuing deputy sheriff, both disguised as choir members, sit beside each other in full view of the congregation. Edgerton infuses all of his characters with reality, and provides a balanced perspective on age and youth. His understanding of teenagers is nowhere more evident than in the contrast between the reality of Wesley's situation and the humor of his exaggerated fantasies. Rita G. Keeler, St. John's School, Houston

From the Publisher

Reading this book is like sitting down to a big round table full of the best food you ever put in your mouth; you can’t quit eating for a minute, this is just so good.”
–LEE SMITH, bestselling author of The Last Girls

“An unpretentious, finely crafted novel that will linger with the readers like the last strains of a favorite hymn. It is more enjoyable than a pitcher full of sweet tea and one of Mattie’s home-cooked dinners.”
–The Atlanta Journal

“Genuinely funny, often poignant . . . Edgerton has captured the habits and manners of a small Southern community with loving precision.”
–Greensboro News & Record

“[A] totally delicious bit-of-a-book . . . Reads faster than you’ll want it to, and ends far earlier.”
–The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A winner, a homespun romp that I suspect Mark Twain would have loved.”
–The Columbia State

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171081539
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/26/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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