Personal Saviors — Wesley Gibson

Welcome to the South. Circa 1969. Where everything is about to change. Paul is an eleven year-old boy caught between his fundamentalist faith and the growing awareness of his sexuality. Lady is a black girl who has been integrated into Paul's school and doesn't want to be there. Helen, Paul's mother, is trying to become a country music star to stave off her increasing disillusionment as wife and mother. Rupert, Paul's father, is increasingly convinced that extra-terrestrials exist and he needs to find them. And Velvet Archer, Paul's gorgeously attractive neighbor, haplessly careens between church and a career in an effort to save herself from her addictions. Sharp, funny, and infused with a dark, sly cleverness, Personal Saviors is a marvelous social snapshot of American lives desperate for any sort of salvation.