Lefty: A Novel

Earl "Lefty" Calvin is a middle-aged, one-armed roofer with a rag-tag crew, the hots for a young waitress who may or may not feel the same way about him, a truck on the verge of breaking down for good, and no bids in the hopper. When a raccoon carries Lefty's prosthetic arm up a tree, he figures he's reached rock bottom. Then a tornado strikes the town and the only roofers willing to repair an AIDS hospice are Lefty and his crew. On the job they face enmity from their peers and confront their own prejudices as well.LEFTY is a comic portrait of the changing South, where strip malls, planned developments, and Yankee relocation threaten the sense of community. The very notion of being connected to something larger-nature, God, even Wal-Mart-is at risk. "Lefty" Calvin and his quirky crew careen through this hilarious and touching tale of odd loves and peculiar loyalties.

Ralph Hardy worked as a part-time roofer while majoring in English at the University of North Carolina. He earned an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College, Chicago. He has published short fiction in Hair Trigger and Weber Studies and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.