Liberty

A Novel of Lake Wobegon

Garrison Keillor

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• eBook ISBN:
  9780571250103
• Year: 2009

Clint is one of the old reliables in Lake Wobegon - the treasurer of the Lutheran church and the auto mechanic who starts your car on below-zero mornings. For six years he has run the Fourth of July parade, turning what was once a line of pickup trucks and girls pushing baby carriages that hold their cats into a dazzling spectacle that has attracted the attention of CNN and prompted the governor to put in an appearance as well. The town is dizzy with anticipation.

Until, that is, they hear of Clint's ambition to run for Congress. They're embarrassed for him. They know him too well - his unfortunate episodes involving vodka sours, his rocky marriage. And then there is his friendship, or whatever it is, with the twenty-four-year-old girl who dresses up as the Statue of Liberty for the parade. It's rumoured that underneath those robes she is buck naked, and that her torch contains a quart of booze.

It's Lake Wobegon as it's always been - good, loving people who drive each other crazy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• 1. The Glorious Fourth
• 2. Leadership
• 3. Ingratitude
• 4. ART
• 5. Daddy
• 6. DNA
• 7. Conversation
• 8. The Naked Moment
• 9. Gardens of Avon
• 10. The Chairman Sings
• 11. The Chairman Broods
• 12. Freedom
• 13. The Chairman Awakens
• 14. Congress
• 15. Dressing Up
• 16. Explosives
• 17. Angelica Arrives
• 18. The People, Yes
• 19. In The Chatterbox
• 20. Mr. Diener’s Investigation
• 21. Pastor Ingqvist Steps In
• 22. Could’ve
• 23. Irene
• 24. The Founders Assemble
• 25. The Living Flag
• 26. Showtime
• 27. In The Garage
• 28. The Big Parade
• 29. The Gov Arrives
• 30. The Collision
• 31. Irene Armed And Dangerous
• 32. Preparing For Flight
• 33. Irene Catches Up
• 34. Finale
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• Copyright