Codger and the Sparrow

Winner of the Discovery Prize for Fiction by the Writers' League of TexasHank O'Sullivan, a sixty-five-year-old widower, lives a routine life, nursinghis loneliness with cocktails at his favorite local bar in Austin, Texas. After aparking lot brawl lands him in jail, a judge sentences Hank to communityservice, picking up trash along the highway alongside a sixteen-year-old troublemaker, Luis Delgado.Luishas remarkable artistic abilities, but hispenchant for sneaking out late at night and trespassing onto rooftops landshim on the same road crew as Hank. These loners form an unlikely friendship,and when Hank tells Luis about his desire to drive to Houston to reconnect withan old flame, Luis asks to tag along. Luis's estranged mother lives in Houston, andhe has been dreaming of a reunion. Hank agrees to take Luis with him, setting inmotion a raucous trip in a hot pink 1970 Plymouth Barracuda.With humor and a bit of grace,The Codger and theSparrowis a touching story aboutan unusual friendship that stretches across generations.