Flagg proves once again why she is the queen of southern fiction. Flagg tackles the issues of life, faith,death and what comes after with a simplicity and freshness that only the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Wbistle Stop Care can She writes with raw emotion, unrestrained wit and refreshing honesty....A great read.

[Flagg] eaptures the sense of [a] town and those who live there. Elner emerges as quite the character, not so much stubborn as a woman who uses the mind and heart she's been given. And in doing so, she's made an unforgettable impact on those around her. In this folksy.., view of life, the truths that emerge are that love and compassion are---always--the best course and that people are put here on Earth to enjoy their lives.

It's the strangest thing. One minute Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs, and the next thing she knows she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet. Meanwhile, back in Elmwood Springs, Elner's high-strung niece Norma faints and winds up in bed with a cold cloth on her head; Elner's neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend,Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch; and the entire town is thrown for a loop.