Heathens

by David Haynes

Marcus has the blues. His wife, LaDonna, is doing twenty-five days in the Shakopee Women's Detention Center for selling a house she didn't own--and putting a hex on the judge. LaDonna's marketing her own brand of facial cream called Madame LaDonna's Herbal Beauty Care Products. And Marcus' mother, who's got Mormons upstairs and heathens all around, sees her chance to liberate Marcus from that infernal woman at last.

Welcome to the world of the Gabriel family, three generations of curious, headstrong, and frighteningly independent-minded people living in a country called the Midwest. From Marcus' war with his unruly sixth-grade class to his voluptuous neighbor's pursuit of Jesus and the perfect sex life, the Gabriels and their friends are all going a little bit crazy. For with scheming, loving, eternally optimistic LaDonna doing time, the tribe is falling apart. And now the question is--how far can they slide in twenty-five little days?

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

David Haynes has been recognized by Granta magazine as one of America's best young novelists. The author of six critically acclaimed novels and five children's books, he is director of creative writing at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

The former sixth grade teacher's short stories have been heard on "Selected Shorts" on NPR, and his novels have been recognized by the American Library Association.

--from the author profile at SMU

See also other authors with similar names.