The Automotive History of Lucky Kellerman

Lucky Kellerman is a man haunted by the dead and distanced from the living, who has been silent when speaking would have saved him and whose crying out has destroyed those he loved. A retired diabetic, widowed for a year and estranged from his son, he barricades himself in an abandoned schoolhouse to restore a Ford 18 Deluxe Roadster. Heller, author of a collection of stories, The Man Who Drank a Thousand Beers, and twice winner of the O. Henry prize, masterfully weaves together a technical account of the construction of the Ford with the disjointed personal history of Lucky as he talks to his ""honeys''the 40,000 bees that share the school. Both tales are interrupted when friends, enemies and Lucky's son try to draw him out of his sanctuary. As Lucky explores his past, he slides further into the delirium of the diabetes that is killing him. Simultaneously, this beautifully paced, captivating novel ascends toward mythical heights and a magical, wholly unexpected conclusion. (September)