The Heaven of Mercury: A Novel

by B Watson (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $19.75

  Brad Watson's first novel has been eagerly awaited since his breathtaking, award-winning debut collection of short stories, Last Days of the Dog-Men. Here, he fulfills that literary promise with a humorous and jaundiced eye. Finus Bates has loved Birdie Wells since the day he saw her do a naked cartwheel in the woods in 1916. Later he won her at poker, lost her, then nearly won her again after the mysterious poisoning of her womanizing husband. Does Vish, the old medicine woman down in the ravine, hold the key to Birdie's elusive character? Or does Parnell, the town undertaker, whose unspeakable desires bring lust for life and death together? Or does the secret lie with some other colorful old-timer in Mercury, Mississippi, not such a small town anymore? With graceful, patient, insightful and hilarious prose (USA Today), Brad Watson chronicles Finus's steadfast devotion and Mercury's evolution from a sleepy backwater to a small city. With this tragicomic story of missed opportunities and unjust necessities (Fred Chappell), Southern storytelling is alive and well in Watson's capable hands (Kirkus Reviews starred review). His work may remind readers of William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, or Flannery O'Connor, but has a power-and a charm-all its own, more pellucid than the first, gentler than the second, and kinder than the third (Baltimore Sun).

• Used

  Paperback
  2005

  $3.25

  Finus Bates has loved elegant, chatty Birdie Wells for eighty years, ever since he saw her cartwheel naked through the woods near the backwater town of Mercury, Mississippi, in 1917. Later Finus won Birdie at poker, but then he lost her again . . . All around the town, Watson's characters dream about the missed opportunities of their lives, the fleeting chances when their courage failed them; Parnell, the town undertaker, whose unspeakable desires bring lust for life and death together; Creasie and her Aunt Vish, descended from slaves, who consider Mercury a cage. Brad Watson brings his own unique, mordant wit to the traditional darkness of Southern Gothic, recalling the work of such writers as William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and Flannery O'Connor. The Heaven of Mercury is a sumptuous portrayal of lifelong friendship, restless passion, marital discord, ageing and transcendence.