John Bonner is sure that anytime now he will recover from the sting of
his recent separation from his wife. And he's begun to wonder if he
truly wants to spend the rest of his days running the family scrap-metal
business, an operation where his employees are likely to have made the
very license plates they now shred. His sister, Octavia, has just
returned to Ohio from Boston to nurture the pain of her own broken
relationship, and she is more certain: Following in the footsteps of
their imperious father is a recipe for emotional disaster.
But then two of John's more eccentric workmen discover thousands of
dollars stashed in the trunk of a car, the remains of a drug deal gone
bad. The question of what to do with this unexpected cash draws John and
his sister into the lives of their newfound collaborators, and sends
them all on a surprising journey of high jinx and the heart.
In The Metal Shredders, Nancy Zafris offers up a refreshingly wise,
offbeat, and thoroughly convincing look at blue-collar America. Hers is
a world rich in humor, steeped in closely held traditions, and filled
with gently endearing, slightly crazed characters trying to discover
just who they are. In the process they discover much about love,
loyalty, family obligation, class--and yes, scrap.
