As was the case with her last novel,
Clock Dance(2018), Anne Tyler teases her readers with an intriguing title for her twenty-third full-length work of fiction published in April 2020,
Redhead by the Side of the Road.The carrot top in question here is not an individual seeking attention or assistance, nor is it the “North American diving duck with a reddish-brown head, related to and resembling the pochard” (
Oxford Dictionaries). Micah Mortimer, Tyler’s 40-something protagonist, is the sole owner of the impression, while driving down a sloped road, that “a certain fire hydrant, faded to the pinkish color of a aged clay flowerpot, was a child or a very short grown-up [. . .] Why! he always thought to himself. What was that little redhead doing by the side of the road? (26).”…
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Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "Redhead by the Side of the Road". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 December 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39460, accessed 23 November 2024.]
