From maesgift.

An interesting tale, full of information I would maybe never have learned otherwise. The Blurb:

On the morning of his fortieth birthday, anthropology professor Jackson Jones contemplates his future. Should he return to Africa, where he did his fieldwork, or should he settle down in the midwestern university town where he now teaches?

On the morning of her release from prison, Sunny, who grew up in a snake-handling church in the Little Egypt region of South 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 are drawn to each other in this captivating and original novel brimming with with, substance, and emotional depth. Packed with fascinating tidbits on everything from how to kill a groundhog to interpreting Carmina Burana, this novel delivers Robert Hellenga at the top of his form.

Oddly enough, I never really connected with any of the characters. I couldn't figure out anybody's motivation, so while the writing was excellent, the book only gets an "8" from me.

Left on the cairn!