"At Last to Kiss Amanda" (Entry 6 of 6)

I am concluding my series in which I take the first and last sentence of a given novel, and let folks decided what happens in between.

I started with the Barry Gifford novel "Wild at Heart" and I conclude with the obscure 1961 Frank Norris novel "At Last to Kiss Amanda," which I found at an estate sale in Roanoke, Va.

When I brought the book for all of one dollar, I had a huge crush on a woman named Amanda. Alas, nothing came of it. I hear she is now a circus acrobat in Sarasota, Fla. (that is a joke!).

Here is the first sentence:

"My friend Lamar Howell, one of my very oldest friends, shot and killed himself on my place at Echota."

And, the last sentence (well, actually the last paragraph):

"I have received five post cards from Amanda mailed respectively from Vienna, Brussels, Rome, Antwerp and, coincidentally, Paris. I hopefully expect to receive more of them, mailed from addresses nearer to home. And in the meantime, I have written this book."

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