Tupelo Nights

John Ed Bradley. Penguin Books, $6.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-14-011899-5

In a mournful first novel, the unfortunately named John Girlie is a former college football star who gives up a promising professional career to hang around his small Louisiana hometown and keep his mother company. PW found the author has a penchant for melodramatic gestures, but concluded, ``there's no denying that Bradley is a writer of power and promise.'' (June)

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