{"product_id":"9780743249881","title":"Welcome to Higby : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eWelcome to Higby\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Mark Dunn\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing the national success of \u003ci\u003eElla Minnow Pea,\u003c\/i\u003e this second novel from Mark Dunn brings the same charm and love of good language to a small town in the South. A Robert Altmanesque comedy, \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Higby\u003c\/i\u003e follows the hilarious goings-on in a small town in northern Mississippi over Labor Day weekend. From mousy Carmen Valentine, whose guardian angel, Arnetta, gives her penny-pinching shopping tips, to addled old Hank Grammar, who preaches Jesus to his neighbors' pets, Higby's townsfolk have a knack for getting into -- and trouble getting out of -- outrageous situations. Blessed with an unerring eye for dead-on details, Dunn lovingly traces the eccentric and touching lives of his characters, offering an intelligent yet heartwarming vision of life in small-town America. \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Higby\u003c\/i\u003e is a Southern comical tale about simple dreams both realized and thwarted by all the complexities of the human heart.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003eLeif Enger author of \u003ci\u003ePeace Like a River\u003c\/i\u003e Mark Dunn is a wry eyewitness along the lines of James Wilcox or Larry McMurtry; \u003ci\u003eWelcome to Higby\u003c\/i\u003e is as farcical as \u003ci\u003eModern Baptists,\u003c\/i\u003e as winning as \u003ci\u003eTexasville.\u003c\/i\u003e Impish and forgiving, here is a writer who observes the commandment: Thou shalt love thy characters. And they pay him back in buckets.\u003cbr\u003ePaula Friedman \u003ci\u003eThe Miami Herald\u003c\/i\u003e Dunn uses human peculiarity in the service of creating empathy, conjuring an atmosphere of wise affection in the process. The small town of Higby, with its accidents, fortuitous encounters, and zany coincidences, offers life at its most ordinary and its most extraordinary.\u003cbr\u003eColleen Kelly Warren \u003ci\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e Every single one of [Dunn's] characters are just so darn likable, and the author's view of humanity so essentially generous, that the reader is gradually sucked into Higby....\u003ci\u003eWelcome to Higby\u003c\/i\u003e is good-hearted fun.\u003cbr\u003ePat MacEnulty, \u003ci\u003eSun-Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Dunn's careful imbedding of humor has an organic quality that turns the book into a real page-turner, not so much to find out what happens but to see what surprising gem you'll find on the next page.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e [H]umor and human sentiment quickly hook the reader into taking up residence. A three-day weekend in Higby isn't long enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780743249881\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Atria Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40592565076174,"sku":"9780743249881","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/O_a4ccbe6d-b292-4a68-a237-3932efb384a0.jpg?v=1637770721","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780743249881","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}