Family Linen

by Lee Smith Narrated by Linda Stephens

Overview

Lee Smith is one of today's most critically acclaimed authors writing about contemporary life in the South. In Family Linen, with a remarkable economy of description and dialogue, Smith sketches eccentric, yet familiar characters moving through a family drama that resonates with both tension and humor. Sybil Hess, a polished, Southern apartment manager has visited a hypnotist in a desperate attempt to discover the source of her blinding headaches. But in one session, a mysterious, Gothic childhood memory plays before her eyes. Now Sybil is racing against time to find an answer to one urgent question. Is her quiet, genteel mother a murderer? Stretching between Sybil and the truth is a loony tangle of sibling rivalry, family lore, and jealousy. Lee Smith's darkly comic, richly textured novel will enchant you. It is a tale told by many voices: Southern dowagers and whiskey-tippling uncles, polyester-clad housewives, and MTV-eyed teenagers. Narrator Linda Stephens' performance draws you into the company of this truly unforgettable family.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A lively, warmhearted, wickedly perceptive and extremely funny book.”—Newsday

“Immensely difficult to put down.”—The Village Voice

“With great skill, humor, and understanding, Smith gradually reveals the Hess family linen for all to see.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A childhood memory relived through hypnosis, a funeral that brings about a family reunion, and the evacuation of a swimming pool on the site of an old well uncover a family secret in this darkly humorous novel…In the course of the story all the family’s dirty linen is aired and Smith provides a behind-the-scenes look at life in a small Southern town.”—The Christian Science Monitor

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171284374
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	02/11/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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