A Good Baby

by Leon Rooke

"Grim and raw and hilarious."— The New York Times During the night of a storm, an Appalachian girl delivers a baby and disappears. Next morning, Raymond Toker finds the baby under a bush and takes to the mountain roads to find her a home. While Turner carries out his quest, the child's father, Truman, with "teeth as rotten as his soul," drives his battered car along the same paths. Leon Rooke is a novelist, short story writer, editor, and critic. He has published twenty-eight books, nearly three hundred short stories, and is the recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature.

297 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

About the author

He is a Canadian novelist.

Reviews

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When people are dealt a rough hand in life they may respond by visiting evil upon others or they may become compassionate because they understand the pain of hardship. This book explores evil, hardship, loyalty, and profoundly makes the case that physical poverty need not predict poverty of the soul. I found this book engrossing. I felt a kinship with many of the characters knowing what it is like to suffer loss and be alone. Despite living through horrors there were many characters in this book who remained kind and moral with a strong sense of justice. I enjoyed this study of the will to survive against the odds and to reach out to comfort those in distress.

[Richard French · Rating 4 out of 5]

An imaginative novel by a Canadian-American writer reminiscent of William Faulkner.