Gifford's final installment in the Sailor and Lula saga (which began with Wild at Heart
, made into a film by David Lynch) finds high hilarity in a road trip back to New Orleans by the aged Southern best-bosom buddies Lula Pace Fortune and Beany Thorn. It's been 18 years since Lula's lifelong beau, Sailor, was killed in a car accident, and Lula, now 80, having left her home in New Orleans, has been living in a small North Carolina town with her mother's dear friend, until the friend's recent death. Along comes Beany for a visit, and the two, still bubbling with life, make a trip to New Orleans, where Lula's son lives, though Lula's not sure she can face the pain of returning to her beloved city transfigured by Hurricane Katrina. Some of the roadside adventures and off-screen plot happenings feel dashed off, but the real draw is Gifford's unfettered delight in the biblically gracious parlance of Southern dames, rendered in dialogue you might overhear at Commander's Palace. (June)
