Mattie Rigsbee, a
78-year-old widow in a North Carolina town, thinks she's slowing down
and can't take in the stray dog that's hanging around her backdoor. But
calling the dogcatcher brings a more troublesome stray into her life
— the dogcatcher's juvenile delinquent nephew, Wesley
Benfield. Taking seriously the biblical injunction to love
"the least of my brethren," Mattie tries to help Wesley, outraging the
brethren at her church and convincing her two adult children that she's
going senile.
Mattie's character is well drawn and rounded. A model of Southern
hospitality, she feeds everyone who comes to her door. She worries
about what people will think if they see dirty dishes in her sink but
not if they see her harboring an escapee from the juvenile detention
center. Fifteen-year-old Wesley needs a home, but Mattie —
who can't understand why her son, age 42, and daughter, age 38, haven't
married and given her grandchildren — needs something from
him, too.
Walking Across
Egypt, the title of a hymn that Clyde Edgerton also wrote,
is a simple, heartwarming novel that stops short of being smaltzy. It
is appropriate for teens as well as adults.
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