Prayers for Sale
This charming novel follows the life of 86-year-old Hennie Comfort as revealed in the stories she spins for her newly married friend, 17-year-old Nit Spindle. In a Depression-era Colorado mining town, Hennie gradually reveals how the tragedies of Civil War-era North Carolina led to the deaths of her husband and young daughter and how a chance letter from an old friend led Hennie to become the wife of a Colorado miner. Stories abound about 1860s North Carolina and about the turn of the century in the High Country West. Told with humor and wit and authentic regionalisms, Hennie’s stories help young Nit face her own hardships with grace and optimism. They also help Hennie sort out her own long life as she prepares herself to deal with changes she also must face.
Filled with history and eccentric characters of the period, Prayers for Sale gradually profiles an extraordinary woman who passes on her strength to the younger woman. The stories are told with wit and irony and great pathos, but the innermost secret of Hennie’s life is not revealed until the surprising ending, one which is sure to please all readers.
