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0-89587-264-1
$22.95 hardcover
6 x 9
360 pages
(now available)
0-89587-316-8
$16.95 paperback
313 pages
(March 2005)
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Country -club slacker
Ensworth Harding is in for a surprise on his 18th birthday. "Son,
his father tells him, "I give you a great gift today. See that open
road? Your destiny lies down there." Ensworth is then kicked out of
the car, given instructions to deliver a letter to an address in
Savannah, Georgia, and told, "If I hear so much as a peep until
your journey is complete, I will disinherit you."
Early into his forced march
to manhood, Ensworth falls in with a bearded, unkempt, Keds-wearing
gentleman who is part overgrown forest sprite, part enlightened bum, and
part old-time British knight. He calls himself Lord Baltimore, and he
will serve as Ensworth's guide and mentor.
In the great tradition of the
picaresque novel, the two subsequently endure a series on misadventures
that bring Ensworth a little closer to his destination physically but go
a long way toward preparing him for it spiritually. They run afoul of a
cracker sheriff, live through a hurricane, and encounter a professional
boxer turned evangelist. Most of the action takes place on the
Gullah island of Zapala off the Georgia coast, a place where the witch
doctor is the leading community figure and where ghosts of dead slaves
linger in the air.
Partly an homage to classics
ranging from Don Quixote to Huck Finn, Lord Baltimore
is ultimately one of those novels that creates its own universe and
whose characters walk the line between the real and the fantastic.
about the author
Stephen Doster was born in England and grew up on St. Simons Island, off
the coast of Georgia. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. This is
his first book.
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