Snakewoman of Little Egypt

July 12, 2010
Hellenga (The Sixteen Pleasures) takes on the dramatic lives of Willa Fern Cochrane—who rechristens herself Sunny after being released from prison—and Jackson Jones, an anthropology professor and a friend of Sunny's late uncle Warren. Sunny, who grew up in a serpent-handling church in the Little Egypt area of southern Illinois, ended up in prison after shooting her husband, Earl, when he forced her at gunpoint to stick her arm into a box of rattlesnakes. As the novel starts, Sunny is enrolled at Thomas Ford University, where Jackson teaches. As Jackson and Sunny get closer, each is drawn deeper into the other's world: Jackson becomes fascinated by the church Sunny grew up in—where Earl is still pastor—and Sunny becomes a star biology student with a special interest in venomous snakes and also an accomplished student in Jackson's ex-girlfriend's writing class. Just as things are settling, an unexpected and tragic twist strikes, forcing a tough reckoning for all involved. Though slow to start, the serpentine story solidifies into a captivating and original take on the strange ways of redemption.

Starred review from July 1, 2010

He's an anthology professor. She's a snake-handling ex-con. What they share, in this gloriously quirky sixth novel from Hellenga (The Italian Lover, 2007, etc.), is a hunger for knowledge. 

It's a time of beginnings. The world is soon to begin a new millennium. The professor, Jackson Jones, again feels vigor after being racked by Lyme Disease. And Sunny is primed for a fresh start after six years in the slammer. Their stories are intriguing. Jackson did his fieldwork in the Forest, in the Congo, living with the Mbuti, or pygmies. He went native, sleeping with a young Mbuti woman; she bore him a daughter; he's tempted to return. Sunny hails from Little Egypt (southern Illinois). She was only 16 when she married Earl, the pastor of a Pentecostal congregation that handles snakes. When Earl thrust her arm into a box of rattlers, she shot him in self-defense, wounding him, nothing serious. She's now 35, five years Jackson's junior; in prison she lost her religious faith but caught up on her education, and is now enrolled at Jackson's central Illinois university. He offers her the apartment above his garage that belonged to his handyman, her dead uncle. They become lovers; there's an astonishing scene, Lawrentian in its fervor, that invokes Greek mythology. Then Earl arrives to reclaim his wife. The story proceeds on parallel tracks. There's a roller coaster involving Jackson, Sunny and Earl, which will climax with a second shooting and trial. Then there's the story of two unconventional people with open minds. As Sunny gobbles up her courses like a kid in a candy store, Jackson travels to Little Egypt to pursue "salvage anthropology" and observe the charismatic Earl at work. The author affirms the validity of both backwoods magic and scientific inquiry on campus.

Three reasons to love Hellenga: He's a fine storyteller; he gives us new eyes; he restores our sense of wonder. Attention must be paid.

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Starred review from September 1, 2010

Jackson Jones, a 40-year-old anthropology professor in Illinois, is recovering from Lyme disease and awaiting the arrival of his late hired hand's niece, who is moving into her uncle's garage apartment. Willa Fern (who presciently renames herself Sunny) found six years of prison preferable to her nightmarish marriage to Earl, the husband she shot for forcing her to put her hand in a box of rattlesnakes. As pastor of the Church of the Burning Bush with Signs Following, Earl believes with his followers in the wildly dangerous practice of religious snake handling, and the local police generally look the other way. As the inevitable romance between Sunny and Jackson heats up, they become more and more immersed in each other's lives. Sunny enrolls in college and thrives, while Jackson, who did fieldwork in the Congo and fathered a child there, is befriended by Earl and begins an anthropological study of Sunny's ex-church with shocking results. VERDICT Hellenga (The Sixteen Pleasures) mesmerizes with this brainy study of snakes and snake-handling churches, love, independence, and, yes, even the power of timpani drumming. Another flawless performance.--Beth E. Andersen, Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

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