Fools Poll

A perfect reading companion to this year’s Presidential Election.

“This rousing political page-turner won’t fail to entertain—maybe even inspire.” Kirkus Review

Part A Confederacy of Dunces and part Oliver Twist, this smart, funny and touching story is animated by 49-year-old Hector Lawrence, who has been a cloistered prisoner of his Bible-thumping, miserly sister Lola ever since a boyhood bout with polio left him a paraplegic. That changes when he wrestles back his half of their inheritance and becomes determined to finally do something with his life. Hector, who’s never had a job and never voted, goes big, launching an independent campaign for the seat of corrupt Nashville congressman Thomas Brumby.

Fueled by his mantra that the Parties Are the Problem, Hector tumbles Nashville into an exuberant election battle, complete with blackmail, election fixing, back-stabbing treachery, media scandal, murderous underlings and midnight stalking. Hector’s politics are all over the map, but partisan orthodoxy doesn’t matter, because all of Nashville resonates with his earnest, ebullient campaigning, his pox-on-both-houses populism, and his refreshing outsider-hood as a disabled nobody.

Surrounding Hector is a diverse, sharply drawn cast of characters, including doting matrons, 30-something lonely hearts, skeevy perverts, gum-snapping teens, a morally tarnished clergyman eager to get his mitts on Lola’s money and a good-hearted African-American pot dealer who has information on Rep. Brumby’s darkest secret—all brought vividly to life by the author’s well-crafted, empathetic prose.

As Hector’s support miraculously grows going down to the wire, so do the efforts of the political parties to stop him, any way they can. This tightly written, character-driven story keeps readers holding on till the very last page.

Kirkus Review — “Wall’s tale has the feel of a Frank Capra movie with Southern gothic shades, starring an eccentric hero whose head gets wised up but whose good heart never flags as he battles both the sinister powers that be and his batty, bloodcurdling sister.”