Uncle Daniel Ponder, whose fortune is exceeded only by his desire to give it away, is a source of vexation for his niece, Edna Earle. Uncle Daniel’s trial for the alleged murder of his seventeen-year-old bride is a comic masterpiece.  "An encompassing, heartfelt story, absurd, true, and pathetic by turns, memorably vivid in the big scenes...and informed from first to last with an intimacy that makes it live." - The Atlantic. “A wonderful tragicomedy” of a Mississippi family."  (The New York Times).  “The most revered figure in contemporary American letters,” said the New York Times of Eudora Welty.  In addition to short fiction, Welty wrote novels, novellas, essays, and reviews, and was the winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.