Weepers

A messianic tale about a group of professional mournersa darkly funny novel of grief, mystery and redemption from the author of The Delivery . Ed is a weeper. A professional weeper. He''s a card-carrying member of an eccentric union hired to cry at funerals, wakes, services and burials. Its an odd job, but his services are sorely needed these days, as the town, the region, the country as a whole has become more or less numb. No one is able to summon a shred of human emotion whatsoever. Not anymore. (Whatd be the point? The worlds already gone to hell.) So theres always work for Ed and his colleagues. But all those cries can wear a man down, and the tears dont flow quite like they used to, even for a consummate pro like Ed. Then one morning, a stranger comes to town. A scrawny kid with no belongings, no parents, no name, no past. And at precisely the moment of his arrival, people begin to experience something new. Something strange. An onslaught of unbidden feelings, unfamiliar feelings, too many feelings A surrealist story of mourning and messiahs, deserts and droughts, cowboys and junkies, miracles and mass hysteria, the lure of despair and the solace of friendship. Peter Mendelsunds Weepers is a novel for this age: our age of anesthesia and anger.