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Praise for Sharyn McCrumb and
ST. DALE
“Funny, smart, full of NASCAR lore and cultural insight, St. Dale is a must read. I loved it! This is a bus trip you don’t want to miss!”
—Lee Smith
“Sharyn McCrumb takes us on a magical memorial bus tour into the world of NASCAR and the canonization of the legendary stock car driver Dale Earnhardt. The novel is a triumphant joy throughout, a Canterbury Tales with speed.”
—Ed McBain
“A wild ride! Sharyn McCrumb has done it again.”
—Ward Burton, NASCAR Nextel Cup driver, winner of the Daytona 500 (2002), founder of the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation
“Wave the checkered flag, ’cause this one’s headed for the victory lane! McCrumb’s latest should attract a large and varied following.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“There are wonderful characters, richly drawn stories, and just enough of the supernatural to remind you that it is Sharyn McCrumb at the wheel. She has produced another winner!”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“McCrumb has written the first great novel of NASCAR….St. Dale epitomizes the best of literature.”
—www.contemporarylit.about.com
“This book may be to NASCAR what O Brother, Where Art Thou? was to bluegrass.”
—Johnson City (TN) Press
“A present-day, blue-collar comedy dealing with spirituality, stock cars, and shaky lives…the strong characters, substance and themes running through it make St. Dale one of McCrumb’s finer achievements.”
—Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News
“Veteran McCrumb provides a lively illustration of the cult of celebrity and offers instructive speculation about the human need for heroes.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Chaucer meets NASCAR…St. Dale is just plain fun.”
—The Anniston (AL) Star
“An incredible tribute to a lifelong friend.”
—Junior Johnson, legendary NASCAR driver
“This isn’t a novel about Dale Earnhardt Sr.; rather, it’s about the way that regular folks sometimes use sports heroes to sustain their faith in their own ability to achieve what they want in life. In her celebrated Ballad series, McCrumb uses the folkways of Appalachia to express the resiliency of the human spirit. In a very different context, she accomplishes the same goal here.”
—Booklist
“In St. Dale the lyrical voice of McCrumb’s Ballad novels comes through with unwavering clarity…The book made me laugh, cry, and feel better about NASCAR than I had since 2001, when Earnhardt’s car slammed into the wall on the last lap of the Great American Race…. You don’t have to be a NASCAR fan to enjoy McCrumb’s skillful, poignant, polished prose. If you are a NASCAR fan—even if you pull for Jeff Gordon—you will love, love, love this book. No matter who you are, there is so much of just plain humanity displayed in McCrumb’s tale that you are bound to be touched.”
—Roxboro (NC) Courier-Times
“Sharyn McCrumb is a powerful novelist. She has assembled a marvelous collection of characters, and all their stories are fascinating. Yet everything comes together as a novel that is full of magic and laughter, wonder and love.”
—Orson Scott Card
“I can’t say I‘ve read a new book any faster than this, or with more enjoyment. Only a writer of Sharyn McCrumb’s imagination and gifts would zero in on the Speedway Circuit and its icon Dale Earnhardt and write a modern day pilgrimage reinvigorating The Canterbury Tales. I followed the trail of St. Dale with relish and delight.”
—Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Arizona
“Three thumbs up! In St. Dale, Sharyn McCrumb takes us on a stock car racing pilgrimage that is at once hilarious, spiritual, moving, even a little spooky, and, most importantly, respectful of the sport and its fans.”
—Jerry Bledsoe, author of The World’s Number One, Flat-Out, All-time Great Stock Car Racing Book
“Sharyn McCrumb is the Dale Earnhardt of Southern literature—outrageous, original, and unstoppable. St. Dale is a wise and wonderful journey honoring an American hero.”
—Emyl Jenkins, author of Stealing With Style
“St. Dale reminds us that we can see the Divine anywhere, if we are willing to look. I loved it.”
—Barbara Hall, creator and executive producer of Joan of Arcadia
“A thoroughly entertaining book, at once humorous and profound; a slice of Americana and a thoughtful study of human nature. McCrumb’s lyrical prose reflects her deep Southern roots.”
—Nashville Tennessean
“Sharyn McCrumb is not only the first legitimate author to try a novel around the NASCAR lifestyle, she will always be remembered as the first to do it creditably. NASCAR racing is not a sport as much as a lifestyle—among competitors but also among fans. This is the first novel that recognizes that, and translates it into an incredibly enjoyable read. St. Dale is a novel that could very well be true, and Sharyn McCrumb tells the story like no one ever has.”
—Kyle Petty, NASCAR Nextel Cup driver, founder of Victory Junction Camp
“Required reading for anybody who still mourns Number Three—or who wonders what the fuss is about.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“McCrumb craftily combines the life and death of Dale Earnhardt with her fictionalized account of some of his fans. Unusual and moving, this will attract fans of NASCAR and admirers of great women’s fiction.”
—Romantic Times
“You don’t have to know much about NASCAR or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to enjoy Sharyn McCrumb’s latest novel. St. Dale is a rollicking tale…a story about personal relationships and how those friendships make little everyday miracles we sometimes take for granted.”
—charlotte.creativeloafing.com
“St. Dale is funny, breezy annd easy to read, but it’s also well-researched…. McCrumb sprinkles NASCAR lore throughout the story, sharing the legends with the uninitiated and showing true fans that she knows her stuff.”
—Georgia Times-Union
Praise for Sharyn McCrumb and her other novels
“One of our most gifted authors…There is no one quite like her among present-day writers. No one better either.”
—The
