The Knife Thrower's Assistant: Memoirs of a Human Target

For years, a close circle of friends have been thrilled and enchanted by actress Ronnie Claire Edwards' vivid and hilarious stores -- tall tales and yarns that have earned her a reputation as one of Hollywood's greatest raconteurs. Now, for the first time, Edwards has taken pen in hand to write those precious stories down. And the strangest thing is -- they're all true! In a unique voice reminiscent of both Mark Twain and Eudora Welty, Edwards recounts the adventures that made hers a life unlike any other, filled with the quirky, the hair-raising, and the absurd. She writes about performing at rowdy (not to mention dangerous) mining camps, her strange and mystical experiences with the gypsies, and her true-life adventures as the Knife- Thrower's Assistant. She introduces readers to a wild and wooly assortment of oddballs and eccentrics, including Miz Arnette, who rewrote the Old Testament; Slim Rorem, the champion snake handler; Big Faye of the Fandango Hall and the Texas Four-Legged Woman; and her Uncle Homer, who fought with Pancho Villa and performed in the Pawnee Bill Wild West Show. At the centerpiece of her memoir, Edwards recalls her unconventional, irrepressible Mama and her cherished Papa, whose letters form the foundation and heart of the book. In The Knife Thrower's Assistant, Ronnie Claire Edwards creates a style all her own, what Fannie Flagg, in her Foreword, calls Oklahoma Gothic. If there wasn't such a thing before -- there certainly is now.