Glorious faith and uncertainty—“the spice of life”—are on the agenda in Shaffner's (One Part Angel
) latest high-spirited, if unsettling, morality tale. The citizens of Ebb, Neb., are all aflutter about the reappearance of Vernon L. Moore, a mysterious traveling salesman reportedly imbued with mystical powers. The town has been struck by a major drought and the quirky cast of local characters hopes that Vernon will break it. Wilma L. Porter, of the Come Again Bed & Breakfast also wants him to heal Clement Tucker, her cancer-stricken “Fiancé in Perpetuity” and “the richest man between Omaha and Oklahoma,” but Vernon says he can't pray for both Clem's life and rain. As Clem and Vernon engage in protracted negotiations, Clem's three friends, the Widows of Eden, arrive at the B & B to help out. They call themselves Lohengrin's Children (after a mythical Wagnerian knight) and have two goals: “to see the world and to help those in need.” The book's bittersweet resolution raises more questions than it answers, and Shaffner keeps the definition of who (or what) Vernon and the Widows are purposefully vague, which some readers may find enticing and others merely frustrating. (June)
