“If a writer gets the language right, the reader will do the rest,” says Robert Hellenga. He need not worry. In Snakewoman of Little Egypt, Hellenga nails the speak, capturing emotions, language and experiences, ranging from Africa to a women’s prison to a snake-handling church—with a Midwestern university layover. For his research, the author delved into oral histories, library and Web resources, YouTube videos of radio-transmitter implants in snakes, NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion and The Convict Cookbook. “My strategy,” he says, “is to get the facts straight and then go for the telling detail that will ...
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