A Shortage of Angels is an unusual story that blends a folksy aesthetic with a more pointed reflection on spirituality, as members of a Southern community cross paths with angels in their midst. Pickle attempts to capture narrator Cal's East Texas drawl and sometimes morbid sense of humor as she grapples with and comes to accept her haunting powers. Calvina (Cal) is perceptive to small details in the world around her and often in awe at the appearance of the angels. The dialect shines most when describing members of the community and their dynamics.
- Booklife Prize
ABOUT
Calvinia Jean Prather is a 10-year-old, precocious tomboy, living in the 1960s town of Onward, Texas. She is blessed by birthright to be a "special purpose" child who has the ability to quiet her mind to see the workings of angels as they go about their celestial tasks, navigating the trials and hardships faced by mortals here on earth. "Cal" lives with her grandfather, who is a mortician, in their home, which is also the family funeral parlor. In their business she encounters Clovis Ray, a baby angel who schools her in the workings of the universe and how she may be called upon to carry out duties towards the purposes of the Great I Am. She embraces Moody, an outcast classmate, and a forest woman who is thought to be an urban legend, to band against a motorcycle gang who murdered a rival gang member. Confession of the crime is accidentally witnessed by Cal and Moody as they explore the reaches of the Sabine River in rural East Texas. To save the lives of her dearly loved ones, Cal must bargain with the most powerful angel, Lucifer, to secure the safety of those who mean the most to her. In this quest she discovers the true reasons why she has been kept in the dark about the death of her mother, and who she can truly claim as her father. Cal's life and the reckoning of dark prejudice by the townsfolk of Onward against others hangs in the balance, as she fearlessly taunts the jaws of death for the sake of those she loves.
