Ladies and gentlemen, meet Sweeley Leech, avatar extraordinaire. Do not be deceived by his rustic, West Virginia bumptiousness. He is the real article; we have not seen his like in two thousand years. Right now, in 1992, he is here! He brings the new gospel, the Criste Lite, to do mortal combat with the dark and devious forces of this vexed planet of ours.
Sweeley's crusade is presented in all its glittery flash by his divinely lubricious daughter Fifi, a creature of infinite caprice and wonder. It is through her looking glass that we will reflect upon the Great bank Unrobbery, the venality of the Goody Two-Shoes, the scandalous doings at Le Pet au Diable, the electric crucifixion.
In this promiscuous, profligate novel, Davis Grubb has confected a swirling galaxy that is unruly, boundless, full of cheats and magic, one that teems with catholic sex and gnostic Christianity. There is lunacy here, and gaiety. And there is vision.
DAVIS GRUBB, a native of West Virginia, is perhaps best known for his classic first novel, The Night of the Hunter. Among his notable works are A Dream of Kings, The Voices of Glory, and, more recently, Fool's Parade. Mr. Grubb died six weeks after delivering the final manuscript of Ancient Lights.
Jacket Design by R. Adelson