A land more kind than home

 by Wiley Cash.  A church committed to handling poisonous snakes during worship services is the catalyst for tragedy in this debut novel. Pastor Carson Chambliss, horribly burned in a meth lab explosion, honed his preaching skills in a Georgia prison, but now he has a small North Carolina congregation in his thrall. He decides that a laying on of hands will cure an autistic boy, but instead his efforts lead to the boy's death and the destruction of a family. Cash employs three characters as narrators: Jess is the autistic boy's protective nine-year-old younger brother; Adelaide Lyle, an aged local midwife; and the county sheriff, who is drawn into the tragedy. Jess' narration is appropriately limited by his age and innocence. The county sheriff is taciturn, but Adelaide is voluble, a true southern storyteller, and her narration provides context that allows the novel to work and burnishes a compelling sense of rural place. Cash is a graceful and promising writer, and his story and characters will linger in readers' memories. --Booklist (Check C atalog)