Fountains of Youth

Aspiring writer Cyrus Slant, who has "nearly outlived Jesus in years on earth," is a lifelong resident of the Dixie Court Motel in Stillwater County, N.C., where the supportive motel-owning South Asian family, the Patils, coexist with a generous smattering of caricatured rednecks. Cyrus idolizes regionally famous journalist Lester Current (a Southern Garrison Keillor with a nearly imperceptible gonzo edge), who, as Cyrus's now-dead mother told him, is also Cyrus's biological father. When Current arrives in Stillwater County and checks in at the Dixie Court Motel, it looks like Cyrus will finally meet his idol-father. Their first interaction is uneventful, though it leads to a kind of friendship that comes to an abrupt end when Current—no stranger to the bottle—abruptly vanishes. No matter; Cyrus keeps busy gathering stories from local residents, sneaking into Current's motel room to file copy under Current's byline and celebrating Diwali ("kind of like Indian Christmas"). The world Ausherman conjures is a colorful and quirky one, though the charm on which this novel depends will likely be lost on readers not already enamored of the South. (July 30)