This copy has been SIGNED by Matthew F. Jones on the title page! This is a copy of the author's first book. It was also the first novel ever published by Hyperion Press. From its "memorable" first line "You can't work in shit all day long and expect to walk away smelling like a rose." Publishers Weekly said of it "Jones's blackly humorous first novel, set on the Cooter family's failing dairy farm in New York State, is firmly grounded in the Gothic tradition. Wryly narrated by 10-year-old Ollie Cooter, it blends frequent hilarity, startling violence and a gripping plot."