Pioneer, Go Home!

The novel that might have been called Piney, Go Home! delivers a fast-paced story, a terrific cast of characters, and dozens of memorable, laugh-out-loud moments. This 50th anniversary edition restores Richard Powells New York Times bestseller and includes a previously unpublished preface by the author. Pioneer, Go Home! ranks among the most entertaining of Powells 19 published novels. Originally released by Scribners in 1959, it was the immediate follow-up to the authors best-known novel, The Philadelphian. Like its predecessor, Pioneer received rave reviews, spent weeks on the bestseller lists, and was made into a popular movie (1962s Follow That Dream starring Elvis Presley). The similarities end there, for with the new novel Powell chose satirical comedy over high dramawith frequently sidesplitting results. Pioneer, Go Home! is a warm and witty tale of little man versus Big Gummint. Powell relates the adventures of the Kwimpersa motley clan of New Jersey Pineys who break down on the side of a southern highway project and decide to claim squatters rights. Call them hicks or bumpkins if you like, but these Kwimpers are considerably more resourceful than most folks give them credit forand ten times as stubborn! When the government orders them to vacate, Pop Kwimper gets his dander up and the die is cast. Hilarity ensues as the family defends its homestead against an onslaught of conniving bureaucrats, Mother Nature, and the mob. You cant help but cheer for the heroic Kwimpers as they thumb their noses at the authorities, struggle to get a business going, stand up to gun-happy gamblers, and tangle with a foxy social worker over custody of twins Eddy and Teddy. Meantime, young Toby Kwimper and the familys endlessly resourceful babysitter, Holly Jones, find the time to fall in lovethough it takes Toby some time to realize that Holly is real growed up. Fish and fishing are recurring themes in many of Richard Powells novels, and theres plenty of both to go around in Pioneer, Go Home!