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Will Mrs. Major go to hell?

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This is the most wonderful book. You find yourself wishing fervertly to God that you had known her. This is a book that I read at least once a year, maybe more, along side "A Prayer For Owen Meany". Please read this book.

Aloise Buckley Heath, the late eldest sister of William F. Buckley, Jr., and herself the mother of 10 children, periodically wrote essays for her brother's magazine, National Review, during the 1960s. Many of them addressed life with her children, and several were about their preparations for Christmas. However, the title derives from an episode in which her child asked Aloise whether a neighbor was committing a mortal sin by voting for LBJ. Mom explained her views on responsible and moral voting, then composed a song predicting that the neighbor would go to hell. As she explains, she really couldn't blame the children of the neighborhood for calling Mrs. Major morning, noon and night to sing her the song. Mrs. Heath had, after all, delighted as her own kids brought all of their friends round to hear Mom's outrageously funny song, and pretty soon, Mom was arranging harmonies and rounds. The poor children probably couldn't think of anything else.

Mrs. Heath's look at life -- at soap operas (and their necessity for the modern housewife), movie magazines, politics, child-rearing, and husbands -- was imbued with self-deprecating humor and an unusual insight into and respect for children. Her book reveals a compellingly sympathetic person, for whose sudden death (of cerebral hemorrhage) the reader grieves, even decades later.