The Ghost of Bud Parrott: a novel - Hardcover

Hout M.D., Dr. Judson N

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1935166395 ISBN 13: 9781935166399

Publisher: Parkhurst Brothers Publishers Inc, 2011

Synopsis

In the tradition of Southern youth portrayed by Truman Capote, William Faulkner and Harper Lee, Judson Hout gives us the voice of Isaac Wood, whose coming of age in the White River bottoms of northeast Arkansas takes us back to the 1950s, when Elvis was still touring the flats of east Texas and Burma Shave was laying claim to the fence posts along Highway 66. Beginning and ending with a frame story-Isaac Wood as an older adult-the guts of this little Southern novel are laid out like the innards of a White River catfish. Some say 'purdy' and some are aghast. In that frame is the life story of young Isaac Wood's surrogate father. From the wrong side of the tracks comes a quiet man to fill that part, a man who keeps his own council and treats folks right. A man all covered in black skin, Bud Parrott walks out of Jackson County and near-slavery at the age of 16. Hopping a freight, Bud heads to Birmingham, Alabama to seek his fortune. Along the way, Bud is inducted into the rites of the curious fraternity of hobos. Brush-arbor campfires, watering stations for steam locomotives, and haunting interiors of boxcars provide the settings for Bud's induction ceremonies, events for which no crepe paper or soda-pop punch are provided. Traveling with hobos and later courting, working in an industrial mill, playing Negro League baseball on the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania team with Satchel Page, standing up to a numbers-running boss and inevitably paying the price for his courage, Bud's introduction to humanity away from home is as colorful and episodic as Huck Finn's float on the Mississippi.

About this title

Book Description:

Novels / Coming-of-Age Fiction

 

The Ghost of Bud Parrott

Runner-Up, Reader’s Choice Best Fiction, 2011

Judson Hout

 

An old man from the wrong side of the tracks proves unforgettable

 

                                                               

 

“An engaging and sure-to-raise eyebrows Southern coming of age novel by an experienced

And sensitive author.”

                                --Billy D. Higgins, author of The Barling Darling: Hal Smith in American Baseball

 

“A fine Southern novel, but much more than that, too;

The Ghost of Bud Parrott is a racial-healing saga for the ages.”

                                --Hon. Harry F. Barnes, U.S. District Judge, Western District of Arkansas

 

“All the charm we have come to expect from Southern fiction—and an ethical study, too.”

                                --Rev. Buddy Ratliff, Senior Pastor, United Methodist Church, Arkansas District

 

“Remarkably entertaining while at the same time opening a window on the social disease that is bigotry.”

--Rev. Lawrence F. Braden, M.D., Physician and Priest, Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas

 

“Baseball fans and those who love a well-turned coming-of-age story will find themselves absorbed in

this tale of life in small towns, farmlands, factories and ballparks  from Pennsylvania to Alabama to Arkansas.”

                                --Brian K, Hardwick, CEO, Regal Energy Corporation, Dallas, Texas  

 

Judson N. Hout grew up in Newport, Arkansas, in the 1940’s and 50’s.  Since earning his medical degree at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Hout has practiced medicine on military bases and in communities in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.  Dr. Hout has published two previous books and has served as a lay leader in Episcopal and Methodist Churches. This is his first published work of fiction.  Dr. Hout lives in Camden, Arkansas with his wife, Carolyn.

 

From the Back Cover:

Novels / Coming-of-Age Fiction

The Ghost of Bud Parrott

Runner-Up, Reader’s Choice Best Fiction, 2011

About this edition

• Publisher: Parkhurst Brothers Publishers Inc
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1935166395
• ISBN 13: 9781935166399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176