Snakewoman of Little Egypt
A Novel
By Robert Hellenga
September 2010
$25.00
352 pp
5.5 x 8.25 in
Hardcover
By Robert Hellenga
A winning new novel from the bestselling author of The Sixteen Pleasures-whose engaging, emotionally true characters could be right at home in the pages of Alice Munro or Bobbie Ann Mason.
On the morning of her release from prison, Sunny, who grew up in a snakehandling church in the Little Egypt region of Southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. She's been serving a five-year sentence for shooting, but not killing, her husband, the pastor of the Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following, after he forced her at gunpoint to put her arm in a box of rattlesnakes.
Sunny and Jackson become lovers, but they're pulled in different directions. Sunny, drawn to science and eager to put her snake handling past behind her, enrolls at the university. Jackson, however, takes a professional interest in the religious ecstasy exhibited by the snakehandlers. Push comes to shove in a novel packed with wit, substance, and emotional depth. Snakewoman of Little Egypt delivers Robert Hellenga at the top of his form.
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Advance Praise for Snakewoman of Little Egypt:
“Hellenga is fearlessly inventive. Could anybody else combine snake handling, the Ituri pygmies of the Congo, life in a women’s prison, learning to play timpani, a murder trial, and a poignant love affair in three-hundred-odd fast-paced, highly readable pages?"—Maxine Kumin
"Dead solid perfect. The truest and most moving portrait of the romance of research and the lyricism of learning that you will ever find. Plus: a good solid story, right down the center. I loved this book."—Mary Doria Russell
Reviews for Snakewoman of Little Egypt:
Robert Hellenga’s Snakewoman of Little Egypt on Kirkus's list of the top 25 novels of the year
Robert Hellenga’s Snakewoman of Little Egypt on Washington Post’s list of the Best fiction and Poetry for the year!
“An inventive, resonant novel with an unlikely love affair at its core… recounting the novel’s many strands doesn’t communicate Hellenga’s crafty, mesmerizing style, a marvelous melange of the mundane and the magical.” —Carlo Wolff, Chicago Sun-Times. Read full review
Good review for Robert Hellenga in the Chicago Tribune
Nice feature with Robert Hellenga in the Chicago Tribune
"Hellenga makes anthropologists of us all."—Los Angeles Times Discoveries column.
“I was deep in another long, portentous novel…then I opened "Snakewoman," which makes no claim at all to being a great American novel, only a wonderful one. …Thank you, Mr. Hellenga! For, among other things, inspiring your readers, instead of trying to edify them.”—Caroline See, Washington Post. Read review.
Newsday picked up the Los Angeles Times piece.
Small feature in Daily Iowan.
Donna Seaman includes Bound and Snakewoman of Little Egypt in her fall books preview in the Kansas City Star. Donna's article is on the wire and should be picked up elsewhere.
“Hellenga fills the novel not only with fascinating details of snake handling and the religious ecstasy it inspires but also with a beguiling portrait of the comfort and shared intimacy of domestic life… Yes, it is a melancholy story, but it is also immensely satisfying and even uplifting in that unique way that only deeply felt life can provide.” —Bill Ott, Booklist, starred review
Also Bob sent us a video introducing himself and reading a bit from the book.
“Gloriously quirky… three reasons to love Hellenga: He’s a fine storyteller; he gives us new eyes; he restores our sense of wonder. Attention must be paid.”—Kirkus Reviews
“…a captivating and original take on the strange ways of redemption.” —Publishers Weekly
