Norwood

***Norwood*, #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Charles Portis's first novel, displayed right out of the gate the wit, style, and singular voice that made him one of our great American writers.** **"A great American deadpan comedy. . . . *Norwood*, like a belt of whiskey, cleared my sinuses right up." --Slate** Out of the Neon Desert of Roller Dromes, chili parlors, the Grand Ole Opry, and girls who want "to live in a trailer and play records all night" comes ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt. Sent on a mission to New York by Grady Fring, the Kredit King, Norwood has visions of "speeding across the country in a late model car, seeing all the sights." By the time he returns home to Ralph, Texas, Norwood has met his true love, Rita Lee, on a Trailway bus; befriended Edmund B. Ratner, the self-described "world's smallest perfect man"; and helped Joann, "the chicken with a college education," realize her true potential in life. As with all of Portis's fiction, the tone is cool, sympathetic, funny, and undeniably American. **"Flawless . . . *Norwood* is a road novel as indispensable as *On the Road* itself." -Ed Park, *Believer***