The Ponder Heart

Uncle Daniel Ponder, whose fortune is exceeded by his desire to give it away, is the talk of Clay County and a source of vexation for his niece, Edna Earle, whose determined efforts to thwart his generosity prove inadequate to his ingenuity. Bonnie Dee Peacock, the little girl from the country who becomes his second wife in order that he may have someone close by to whom he can give things, is not so small that her disappearance goes unnoticed. Uncle Daniel's trial for the alleged murder of his seventeen-year-old bride is a comic masterpiece that climaxes one of Eudora Welty's happiest stories and vindicates one of her most brilliant characters.