Welty's wonderful Mississippi ear for spoken speech never falters in this hilarious account of bizarre events as recounted by a narrator possessing equal measures of shrill common-sense, warmth, a flair for the dramatic and righteousness. Edna Ponder tells the story of her lovable, dangerously generous and slightly crazy Uncle Daniel who, having had one short-lived marriage, makes the mistake of taking a young girl from the wrong side of the tracks as his next bride. When his child-wife dies, he finds himself charged with murder. The ensuing court case is even funnier than the Flood Tribunal and full of fiery exchanges such as when the Ponder wealth is questioned and the clan is accused of not burning their cotton "when Sherman came". Edna's reply is a spirited: "You got yours suing." First published in 1953, it is a flawless performance in which Welty's dialogue entirely upstages the improbable story.
Eileen Battersby