A quirky tale of a harddrinking artist by an author who writes about the rural South without sentimentality but with plenty of sharpwitted humor NPR Morning Edition Renegade artist Harp Spillman is lower than a bowlegged fire ant Because of an unhealthy relationship with the bottle hes ruined his reputation as one of the Souths preeminent commissioned metal sculptors And his desperate turn to ice sculpting mightve led to a posse of angry politicians on his trail With the help of his sane and practical wife Raylou Harp understands that its time to get his act together and prove that he can complete a series of twelvefoothigh metal angelswelded completely out of hex nutsfor the city of Birmingham Is it pure chance that the Elbow Boys with arms voluntarily fused together so they cant drink show up in order to help Harp And why did his neighbor smuggle anteaters into the desolate little South Carolina town of Ember Glow Harp is drying out but somehow being sober isnt making the world seem any less confusing Engagingly comic Singleton has a flair for capturing Southern eccentricity and Raylous imperturbable patience is just as funny in its way as Harps selfloathing Publishers Weekly If there is a fiction genre blending the riotous blearyeyed excess and absurdity of gonzo journalism with the rather earnest sensitivity of a John Irving herowho always does right by his wife in the endWork Shirts belongs to it Its a fun read An adventure to be undertaken Newsweek