by Janis Owens
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Praise for The Schooling of Claybird Catts
“A sumptuous, life-affirming treat.”
—Orlando Sentinel
“Janis Owens’s haunting characters will stay with you, like a quiet song playing in your memory, long after you have finished the novel.”
—Loraine Despres, author of The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc
“Atmospheric and teeming with memorable characters, The Schooling of Claybird Catts delivers a powerful message about the ties of love and the meaning of family…in Claybird the author has created one of the most endearing narrators since Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.”
—Curled Up with a Good Book (www.curledup.com)
“Janis Owens possesses one of the freshest and most original literary voices I have read of late. Claybird Catts is a mesmerizing narrator: honest and funny and wise beyond his years. He is also exquisitely naïve, which makes us root for him all the more. This is a wonderful novel. Readers will find themselves laughing through their tears as Claybird uncovers the time-hewn universal truths that bind family and friends in the bumpy but unbroken circle we call love.”
—Connie May Fowler, author of Before Women HadWings
“The Southern-born and-bred Owens laces the poignant narrative with an appealing combination of humor, pathos, and down-home wisdom.”
—Booklist
“Embracing all the contradictions of a Southern childhood, Janis Owens’s novel achieves a life-affirming vision. In a voice of remarkable originality and freshness, young Claybird narrates his wayward journey from denial to consolation.”
—Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife and Four Spirits
“Warm and affirming.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“In her stunning first novel, My Brother Michael, Janis Owens found a voice that was strong, compassionate, and very much her own. Here she has honed it fine. Claybird will hurt the reader’s heart and linger in his memory. I send her the highest compliment one writer can pay another—I’ll read the next thing she writes.”
—Harry Crews, author of A Feast of Snakes
“Fans will likely enjoy this affectionate portrait of teenage narrator Claybird Catts…. Owens infuses the story with warm humor as she traces Claybird’s gradual, poignant reconciliation to his less-than-perfect family.”
—Publishers Weekly
ALSO BY JANIS OWENS
My Brother Michael
Myra Sims
Copyright
THE SCHOOLING OF CLAYBIRD CATTS. Copyright © 2003 by Janis Owens. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © MAY 2007 ISBN: 9780061877445
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