I’m sure that your reading list is plenty long, but I have a book that you need to move straight to the top: A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli. This book is not for the faint of heart, and is quite challenging. Think William Faulkner mixed with Flannery O’Connor and you’ll get a pretty good picture at Piccirilli’s writing-style. The language of the novel is both horrifying and beautiful, and if you can keep from reading the same passages over and over, because of how he constructed a sentence or paragraph, I applaud you. Though only a bit over 200 pages, relish this novel in small doses, for it may be the best example of Southern Gothic literature today. Simply put: this novel will knock you down, help you back up, and knock you down again because it can. Don’t miss this chance, read the book. If this title is unavailable from our library we are more than happy to ILL it for you. Happy reading! (

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SturgisPublicLibrary | Oct 29, 2009 |

This is a very strange novel that at first seemed confusing and was difficult to get into. Although confusing isn't the correct term. I just wasn't sure where the plot was heading or how the characters fit. But I was lulled by the author's style of writing and decided to let the story take me where it would. And it took me for a memorable ride. A very strange and unique ride filled with conjoined triplets, a coven of witches, child killers, ghosts, snake eaters, drug addled film students, private investigators, a leg eating bull gator and more. I'm not sure you would consider this fun reading, but I sure as heck enjoyed it. (

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timdt | Apr 8, 2009 |

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Canonical Title

A Choir of Ill Children

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Bram Stoker Award Nominee (Novel, 2003)

Epigraph

Dedication

For Michelle, who gives me a reason

First words

We move in spasms.

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

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References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

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Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0553587196, Mass Market Paperback)

This lyrical tale of evil, loss, and redemption is a stunning addition to the Southern gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Harry Crews.

A Choir of Ill Children is the startling story of Kingdom Come, a decaying, swamp backwater that draws the lost, ill-fated, and damned.

Since his mother’s disappearance and his father’s suicide, Thomas has cared for his three brothers—conjoined triplets with separate bodies but one shared brain—and the town’s only industry, the Mill.

Because of his family’s prominence, Thomas is feared and respected by the superstitious swamp folk. Granny witches cast hexes while Thomas’s childhood sweetheart drifts through his life like a vengeful ghost and his best friend, a reverend suffering from the power of tongues, is overcome with this curse as he tries to warn of impending menace. All Thomas learns is that “the carnival is coming.”

Torn by responsibility and rage, Thomas must face his tormented past as well as the mysterious forces surging toward the town he loves and despises.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:17 -0400)

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