St. Christopher on Pluto

By Nancy McKinley

Book Overview

*2021 Colorado Book Awards Finalist, Literary Fiction*

MK and Colleen get reacquainted while working at different stores in a bankrupt mall. Way back, the women went to Catholic school together and collaborated on racy letters to a soldier in Vietnam who thought they were much older than seventh graders--a ruse that typifies later shenanigans, usually brought on by red-headed Colleen, a self-proclaimed "Celtic warrior."

After ditching Colleen's car to collect the insurance, they drive from one unexpected event to the next in Big Blue, MK's Buick clunker with a St. Christopher statue glued to the dash. The glow-in-the-dark icon guides them past the farm debris, mine ruins, and fracking waste of the northern brow of Appalachia. Yet their world is not a dystopia. Rather, MK and Colleen show why, amid all the desperation, there is still a community of hope, filled with people looking out for their neighbors and with survivors who offer joy, laughter, and good will.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1949199266
• ISBN13: 9781949199260
• Release Date: December 2019
• Publisher: West Virginia University Press
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.9" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Hilarious and Poignant

I love this book. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and the stories captured the joys and challenges of my home. I laughed and cried and cried because I laughed so hard. The stories are all connected and I loved seeing how characters reappeared in cameos in other characters stories! If you've read Hillbilly Elegy and want a palate cleanser, this book is the answer.