Nannie Jeter is a black woman who helped raise Eugene Jarecki when he was growing up.

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Nannie's wayward lifestyle and outspoken views on such newfangled matters as organic farming have had Garnett's nose out of joint for decades.

ECONOMIST: Recent American fiction: Where the wild things are | The

Meanwhile, Garnett Walker, an elderly widower with a passion for chestnut trees, feuds no less bitterly with his neighbour, a feisty spinster called Nannie Rawley.

ECONOMIST: Recent American fiction: Where the wild things are | The