In February, the Book Club will travel back to the deep South, with the novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel by Tom Franklin.  Set in Mississippi (hence the phrase in the title “crooked letter, crooked letter” referring to the way children in the South have been taught to spell Mississippi:  "M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I”), the story follows a crime mystery while delving into the complexities of racial tensions and how they’ve morphed over time, small towns, families, and friendships.  Franklin fully fleshes out his two main characters:  Larry Ott, the oddball, horror-book loving white boy who grows up to be called “Scary Larry” by the locals, and Silas “32” Jones, the current African American town constable whose nickname comes from the back of his jersey as the town’s famed high school and college baseball player. Ron Charles of the Washington Post aptly described the book as a “smart, thoughtful novel that sinks deep into a Southern hamlet of the American psyche.”

 Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel by Tom Franklin is available at Steve’s Sundry Books.  Book Club will meet for lunch and discussion on Sunday, February 19^th, in the library immediately following worship service.