(Posted for Ann Roberts)
Interspersed with quotes from The Good Book, The Bible Salesman is classic Clyde Edgerton, a story full of quirky North Carolina characters, drifting gently through the landscape. Henry Dampier is a young man selling Bibles intended for free distribution, in 1950s rural North Carolina. Henry’s moral dilemmas are many. He asks for free Bibles to distribute to the needy and sells them for a profit, he finds numerous inconsistencies in the very book that he purports to love and believe in as he is making his sales pitch, and his raging hormones compel him to lust after the young proprietress of a fruit stand that he meets during his travels. As a gullible and simple country boy, Henry ends up being duped into participating in a car theft ring, under the illusion that he is working for the FBI, when he’s not selling Bibles or thinking of Marleen Green, of the fruit stand. As a Bible selling, auxiliary FBI agent, Henry is called upon to drive the stolen cars to a drop off location for repainting, is asked to bury a moccasin bitten cat twice for a weeping older customer, and takes a ride with a 91-year-old lady with failing eyesight who hasn’t driven since she had her stroke awhile back. Edgerton writes a lovely, gentle story, where love and truth triumph over deceit and confusion in the end.
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