05/30/2026
Book of the Day!
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
Jayber Crow returns to Port William in 1932 as the town barber in the seventh book in the Port William series, armed with questions he cannot answer but must live outâa mystery that may take longer than a lifetime
âThis is a book about Heaven,â says Jayber Crow, âbut I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell.â It is 1932 and he has returned to his native Port William to become the townâs barber.
Orphaned at age ten, Jayber Crowâs acquaintance with loneliness and want have made him a patient observer of the human animal, in both its goodness and frailty.
He began his search as a âpreâministerial studentâ at Pigeonville College. There, freedom met with new burdens and a young man needed more than a mirror to find himself. But the beginning of that finding was a short conversation with âOld Grit,â his profound professor of New Testament Greek.
âYou have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them outâperhaps a little at a time.â
âAnd how long is that going to take?â
âI donât know. As long as you live, perhaps.â
âThat could be a long time.â
âI will tell you a further mystery,â he said. âIt may take longer.â
Wendell Berryâs clearâsighted depiction of humanityâs giftsâlove and loss, joy and despairâis seen though his intimate knowledge of the Port William Membership.
