The Homespun Wisdom of Myrtle T. Cribb

Reynolds structures this novel as a memoir, with the title character announcing in a foreword that she wishes to share the story of her journey "in the form of this devotional... in the hopes that some of what I experienced might help you with your own journey." Myrtle's "journey" begins on the morning she is to have elective surgery to please her husband, Craig. Instead, she drives aimlessly away from her Virginia home with a stowaway, a local homeless man nicknamed "Hellcat" who had been sleeping in the back of her truck. She realizes she is running away from her unfulfilled life and the manipulative husband she refers to as "a tyrant." The travelers, with no set destination, find themselves inexplicably herded onto a bus full of old hippies that drives them to the Raven Creek Center for Spiritual Enlightenment. Here Myrtle learns about meditation, takes a body image workshop, and has a vision of a talking fox in her tent. When Myrtle's 10 days at Raven Creek are over and her companion decides to stay behind, she must decide whether to return home or keep moving, and how to incorporate her new life lessons into a happy existence. In Myrtle Cribb, novelist and professor of southern literature Reynolds gives us an endearing character, who describes herself aptly as "the sort of person who has trouble with obvious things," and her story is the relatable experience of trying to find meaning in an ordinary life. (Oct.)