Thirsty City - Hardcover

Morris, Phillip Quin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394575814 ISBN 13: 9780394575810

Publisher: Random House, 1990

Raised in poverty, B.J. Reynolds takes advantage of living in dry Sumpter County, Alabama, to become the local bootlegger and the county's richest man

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From Publishers Weekly:

Sumpter County, Ala., is the heart of the heart of Dixie. It is also a dry county, and this raucous and pungent novel regales us with the story of how its thirsty citizens are supplied with bootleg whiskey. The conduit is Bennie J. Reynolds, shrewd and affable business tycoon and dedicated family man. If B.J. has any worries at all, they center on the antics of his children, Wright and Winn, and on the increasingly strange behavior of his niece Hanna. Wright, at 18 already being groomed for a political career, broods over leaving home for college and is resolved to make his last summer in Sumpter County memorable. Winn, 22, back from an extravagant trip to Europe, has yet to settle down and graduate from one of the many colleges she's attended. A fortune teller has told 17-year-old Hanna she will die before her 18th birthday; she is unsettled, to say the least. The three young people roar through the summer of 1970 with abandon, leaving in their wake a shaken yet admiring citizenry. This book by the author of Mussels is a celebration of moonshine, fast cars and beautiful women, enriched by vivacious characters, earthy scenes and a witty yet loving look at some highly prized local customs.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Bennie J. Reynolds is the richest man in Sumpter County, Alabama, due to a per fect blend of good moonshine and unfail ing business sense. Now gone legitimate, mostly, he works to create a fairy-tale ex istence for his family. His one regret is not having had ten children; yet, his chief worry is his children, Winn and Wright, and niece Hanna, who seem hell-bent on being teenagers. It is the summer of 1970, and they romp through the days as if each might be the last: Wright has a nagging fear of going off to college, Hanna is deal ing with pregnancy and a death fixation, and Winn is seeking to make some sense of four years of college-hopping. Half a generation removed from a sharecrop per's cabin, the Reynolds are a rich blend of Southern gentility and backwoods red neck. In Morris's (Mussels, LJ 4/1/89) ca pable hand they rejoice in their uptown living and downhome style. Recommend ed.
-Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illi nois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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