The Bible Salesman - by Clyde Edgerton (Paperback)

About the Book

Preston Clearwater has been a criminal since he began stealing from the Army during the Second World War. Back on the road in post-war North Carolina, he picks up hitchhiking Henry Dampier, and immediately recognizes Henry as just the associate he needs to help Clearwater's car-theft ring.

Book Synopsis

Preston Clearwater has been a criminal since stealing two chain saws and 1600 pairs of aviator sunglasses from the Army during the Second World War. Back on the road in post-war North Carolina, a member of a car-theft ring, he picks up hitch-hiking Henry Dampier, an innocent nineteen-year-old Bible salesman.

Clearwater immediately recognizes Henry as just the associate he needs -- one who will believe is working as an F.B.I. spy; one who will drive the cars Clearwater steals as Clearwater follows along in another car at a safe distance. Henry joyfully sees a chance to lead a dual life as Bible salesman and a G-man.

During his hilarious and scary adventures we learn of Henry's fundamentalist youth, an upbringing that doesn't prepare him for his new life. As he falls in love and questions his religious training, Henry begins to see he's being used -- that the fun and games are over, that he is on his own in a way he never imagined.

Review Quotes

"The Bible Salesman skillfully employs all the devices its author has honed over the years-a fine ear for dialogue, a love for the South and its people, and a gently modulated wit-to produce another winner."--Booklist

"A breezy and sometimes humorous yarn."--The Wall Street Journal

"A rollicking, rambling road novel...one of the better takes on the Southern bible salesman buddy stories since Moses Prey and Addie Prey in Paper Moon."--Publishers Weekly

"Achingly poignant and ripsnortingly funny...The Bible Salesman is so sweet and funny that its darker themes of death, abandonment, existential uncertainty and the impermanence of human relations sneak up quietly on the reader."--The News & Observer

"An escapist romp at heart, perfect for a lazy summer's afternoon."--O Magazine

"As much as the crime story takes center stage here, it's in these extended flashbacks to Dampier's history that Edgerton shows some of his best writing: quick, nostalgic glimpses of a lost era, told mainly from a child's wide-eyed perspective-but infused with a master storyteller's understanding of the adult world as well.... Warm and winning."--Raleigh Metro Magazine

"Clyde Edgerton's funniest in years."--Star News Online (Wilmington)

"Clyde Edgerton's storytelling is sublime....The Bible Salesman is a deeply satisfying novel, and great fun."--The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)

"Edgerton is a master of not only describing small-town life, but also of making the reader long for it...Edgerton has great affection for his characters, and while he makes us laugh at their eccentricities, he also provides his readers with enough substance and vulnerability to fall in love with them....one great joy ride."--The News & Observer (Raleigh)

"Edgerton mines the orthodoxy of his youth in rural North Carolina to find humor in an awkward young man wrestling with the temptations."--The Roanoke Times

"Hilarious. . . The Bible Salesman combines the sweet and funny stories of growing up in the South with the humorous and frightening adventures of a life of crime."--Associated Press

"Hilarious...beyond the violence and beyond the laugh-out-loud humor, this story of a boy who becomes a man is, in Edgerton's hands, a true tale of redemption. It's not a spoiler to say that, by novel's end, Henry is indeed saved, though not by any illusions fed to him in Sunday School."--Nashville Scene

"If you've ever read any of Clyde Edgerton's wonderful books, you know the characters rule supreme. The same remains true of his newest novel, The Bible Salesman... The character you'll remember most is a recently passed-away cat named Bunny."--Southern Living

"In this comedic novel, Edgerton, the author of seven best sellers, gives us a satisfying twist on the coming-of-age tale."--Library Journal

"Irresistible...Edgerton is a master of comic timing, and The Bible Salesman is a font of wildly creative comedy."--Richmond Times Dispatch

"The influences of Mark Twain and James Thurber color The Bible Salesman...With intoxicating Southern-fried humor that's both warm and biting, Edgerton's latest is a breezy crowd-pleaser that will certainly expand his already large and loyal readership."--Western North Carolina Magazine

"There are immense pleasures in the tales patched together in "The Bible Salesman" - tales that could have been spun on the front porch of a late summer North Carolina night."--The Washington Post

About the Author

Clyde Edgerton is the author of 10 novels, including The Bible Salesman and The Night Train. Five of his novels have been New York Times Notable Books. He lives with his wife, Kristina, and their children in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He holds a PhD in English Education.