A Redbird Christmas (2004)

Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café) returns to the South with an engaging tale of a terminally ill man (Oswald T. Campbell, named after a can of tomato soup), an orphan girl, and a pet cardinal rescued after a shooting. What they all find in Lost River, Ala., is a chance to heal each other. If the ending of A Redbird Christmas out-syrups Aunt Jemima, the saving grace is her lean, witty prose (Oswald ''always felt like a pair of white socks and brown shoes in a roomful of tuxedos'').