Earl in the Yellow Shirt: Novel, A

Reminiscent of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Earl in the Yellow Shirt follows the efforts of the aptly named Scurvy family--a dirt-poor south Georgia clan--to raise enough money for a decent funeral for their mother, who died giving birth. Told from multiple points of view--including that of daughter Loujean, who, at age 16, becomes the baby's caretaker--Earl in the Yellow Shirt perfectly captures the cadence and dialect of Southern life and language. Like the best writing, the novel is thickly textured but reads lightly.