The Serpents of Blissfull
Bruce Pratt knows the broken hearts and minds of the backwoods, and in this book he gives us a darkly funny and brilliant portrait of a down-but-never-out misfit struggling for a toehold in life's craggy hills....Not since The Beans Of Egypt Maine has there been a book so true to it sense of place. The Serpents of Blissfull is an absolute winner. --Clint McCownThe Serpents of Blissfull is a wonderful read- well-drawn characters, intiguing setting, strong but subtle writing. The narrator, Isaac (Ize) Butts -no'count drunkard, veteran, and born-again Christian who joins the snake-handling Star of Morning Church-has a marvelous voice, a voice at once gritty and poetic, earthy and insightful, a voice that is as real and unique as the mountain hollers from which it came. --Dr. Michael WhiteA compelling narrative of faith and redemption. Bruce Pratt's Serpents of Blissfull pays homage to the characters too often disregarded by contemporary fiction. His rendering of their pathos, their struggle, and their humanity is as skillful as it is tender, and it places him sqarely in the tradition of other greats like Roddy Doyle, Annie Proulx, and Richard Russo. --Kathryn Miles, Associate Professor of Environmental Writing, Unity College