The Ponder Heart, Eudora Welty
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The Ponder Heart

Author: Eudora Welty

Narrator: Sally Darling

Unabridged: 4 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 09/23/2011

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

Originally published in The New Yorker in 1954, The Ponder Heart is easily Eudora Welty's most comic novel, a lighthearted burlesque that rivals Caldwell's Tobacco Road for capturing rural idioms, and the novels of Mark Twain for high farce. Edna Earle, a person of large distinction in Clay County, and the talkative owner of the Beulah Hotel, tells the story of her Uncle Daniel Ponder, a local hero whose over-affection for society compels him to give everything he owns away. The disappearance of Uncle Daniel's second wife, the waifish and willowy Bonnie Dee Peacock, leads to his arrest for murder. The trial, which comprises the second half of the novel, is a masterpiece of courtroom anarchy. A cast of Dickensian characters coupled with Edna's hysterically accurate observations of small-town life, transport the reader, like a raucous family drive, to a truly original conclusion.

Author Bio

Eudora Welty (1909­–2001), one of the most important and beloved writers of the 20th century and master of the short story form, was born and lived most of her life in Jackson, Mississippi. The author of multiple essays, novellas, and novels, including The Optimist’s Daughter and Delta Wedding. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order of the South, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, among many other literary awards. She was also the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

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