The Augenbaughs live in a broken and decaying town where the last vestiges of country-club wealth run up against the terrible realities of working-class poverty. Abigail, a fervent believer in the apocalyptic teachings of a radio preacher, is desperate to save her son from Judgment Day as she readies herself for the Rapture -- due to arrive in just a few days. Her husband, Burns, has moved to the basement to live out his days in a medicated stupor, unable to cope with memories of his service in Iraq. Caught between the suffering of his mother and father, 10-year-old Willie fights the inherited demons that have savaged his parents’ tenuous grasp on reality.
The somber drama surrounding the Augenbaughs plays out with a piercing and commanding lyrical beauty. Both transfixing and disconcerting, Sherrill’s empathetic portrait of alienation elicits hope and sympathy amidst shattered but no-less-dignified lives.
Sherrill, associate professor of English and integrative arts at Penn State Altoona, is the author of "The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break," published in 2000 and translated into eight languages, "Visits From the Drowned Girl," and "The Locktender's House." His collection of poems, Ersatz Anatomy, was published in 2010.
For more about the book, go to http://lsupress.org/books/detail/joy-pa/ online.