From Library Journal
This first novel, a picaresque set in the coastal area of South Georgia, calls to mind some of the best of the genre, including Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and James Howard Kunstler's An Embarrassment of Riches. At age 17, Ensworth Harding shows little ambition or promise, having spent most of his life hanging out at the local golf club on St. Simons Island, GA. On Ensworth's 18th birthday, his father drives him to the Coastal Highway, points him north, and kicks him out of the car with $100 and a letter to deliver to a law firm in Savannah. The next month proves the most memorable of Ensworth's life, as he wanders the Georgia coast, blundering into and out of drug deals, jailbreaks, attempted suicides, and revival meetings, and encountering the worst and best of society. Along the way he meets crooked politicians, a jail escapee, a witch doctor, an elderly Gullah gentleman who speaks only Latin, a possible ghost, and, most importantly, Lord Baltimore, his personal guide and protector who produces and directs many of the adventures firsthand. A wonderful coming-of-age novel, Lord Baltimore will appeal to youth as well as adults for its fantasy, adventure, and basic truths. Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
On his eighteenth birthday, pampered rich boy Ensworth Harding is unceremoniously dumped on the side of a dusty Georgia highway by his self-made father. Given a new pair of sneakers, a backpack, a sealed envelope, and strict instructions to walk to Savannah and deliver the envelope or face disinheritance, he embarks on an instructive, often-hilarious open-road odyssey. Tempted to return home but fearful of his father's wrath, the supremely naive Ensworth embarks on a life-altering journey into manhood via the remote backwaters of the rural South. He is joined on his mission by an unkempt pseudo-British knight calling himself Lord Baltimore, and Ensworth and his eccentric sidekick encounter a string of con men, ne'er-do-wells, and free spirits and share a marvelously bizarre series of adventures. Pursued by a vengeful, drug-dealing sheriff, they hide out on a remote Gullah island off the coast of Georgia, awaiting an inevitable confrontation. First-time novelist Doster hits all the right comical and serious notes in this fantastical coming-of-age yarn. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
