Handling Sin
Description
On the Ides of March, our hero, Raleigh Whittier Hayes (forgetful husband, baffled father, prosperous insurance agent, and leading citizen of Thermopylae, North Carolina), learns that his father has discharged himself from the hospital, taken all his money out of the bank and, with a young black female mental patient, vanished in a yellow Cadillac convertible. Left behind is a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that Raleigh must perform in order to rescue his father and his inheritance.
And so Raleigh and fat Mingo Sheffield (his irrepressibly loyal friend) set off on an uproarious contemporary treasure hunt through a landscape of unforgettable characters, falling into adventures worthy of Tom Jones and Huck Finn. A moving parable of human love and redemption, Handling Sin is Michael Malone's comic masterpiece.
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Person
Michael Malone is the author of ten novels, a collection of short stories and two works of nonfiction. Educated at Carolina and at Harvard, he is now a professor in Theater Studies at Duke University. Among his prizes are the Edgar, the O. Henry, the Writers Guild Award, and the Emmy. He lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with his wife.
Content
Prologue
THE CALL
Chapter 1 In Which the Hero Is Introduced and Receives a Blow
Chapter 2 Which Treats of the Strange Message the Hero's Father Sent Him
Chapter 3 Of a Misunderstanding between Our Hero and His Neighbors
Chapter 4 How Raleigh Received His Name
Chapter 5 In Which Raleigh Blackmails an Enemy and Frightens the Kaiser
Chapter 6 Of the Advice Given Raleigh by His Only Sane Aunt
Chapter 7 In Which the Hero Commits a Crime
Chapter 8 And Is Nearly Arrested
Chapter 9 The First Sally Takes a Strange Turn
Chapter 10 How Raleigh Was Confirmed in His View of the World
THE QUEST
Chapter 11 In Which Our Hero Attends a Surprise Party
Chapter 12 Raleigh Escapes
Chapter 13 Wherein Is Continued the Account of the Innumerable Troubles Endured by Our Hero
Chapter 14 Sudden Impulses Overwhelm Our Hero
Chapter 15 In Which Is Continued a Conversation Begun Thirty Years Ago
Chapter 16 In Which Raleigh and Mingo Fall into a Swamp
Chapter 17 Raleigh's Confession
Chapter 18 How Mingo Fared Alone at Myrtle Beach
Chapter 19 In Which the Hero Finds Himself at Sea
Chapter 20 The Great Adventure of the Bass Fiddle Case -
Chapter 21 In Which Is Described the Famous Barbecue at "Wild Oaks"
Chapter 22 Our Hero Succumbs to a Faded Beauty
Chapter 23 The Very Extraordinary Adventures Which Ensued at the Inn
Chapter 24 In Which Are Continued the Misfortunes That
