"A difficult old woman may be entertaining if you are not responsible for her upkeep." After coming to live with her nephew and his wife in Mississippi, Sophia Hess observes them from behind her wall of silence and disapproval as they come and go. She spends her days reading, watching the birds outside her window, losing herself in television reruns, and eating the meals dutifully prepared for her. Though frequently haunted by thoughts of all the different ways to die, she slowly begins to consider new ways to live. With dry wit, she assesses all that she sees and hears, then gradually reassesses the people around her. From Phyllis Tickle, former Religion Editor for Publishers Weekly: "If ever angels were to try writing stories, they would strive to make them like Jamie Langston Turner's novels. Steady, soft-spoken, elegantly plain, Turner. . . sings us down into the kingdom of the believing heart. I love her books."
