Our Book Whisperer Linda Sullivan takes us into the prison environment from one funny and touching novel, Nowhere but Home, to one of intrigue and mystery,The Guardians. Both will keep you locked into the plot written by two captivating authors.
Linda read her first recommendation, Nowhere but Home, in the summer of 2014. For those friends who swore NEVER to go back home but had to, she says this is a good read. The lead character, Queenie Wake, is a chef without a job but has debt. Where does she go? Home. AND takes a job in the state prison preparing the death row inmates’ final meals.
After reading the novel, Linda then hosted a dinner party based on the question, “What would be your last meal?” She still thinks about this book and that question! (Now that is an interesting question since we will all have a last meal, whether we know it is or not. How’s that for thought-provoking and diet stopping.)
Nowhere but Home is written by Liza Palmer and is a novel of “food, football and fooling around,” winning the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction in 2013.
Liza Palmer, who lives in Los Angeles where she says 95% of the people call her Lisa, is an international best-selling author of seven novels. She also writes for Marvel and BuzzFeed.
Linda’s second recommendation for the week, The Guardians, keeps us set in the prison environment.
Instead of prisoners deciding their final meals, the main character here, Cullen Post, provides the final appeals for the wrongly convicted. But it’s not as simple as just proving the case.
Author of The Guardians, John Grisham, is known for his legal thrillers and this one will not disappoint. Grisham is a former lawyer, former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, but best known for his 37 consecutive No. 1 fiction bestsellers, selling 300 million copies worldwide.
Remember: Knox County Online Library to search for Linda’s recommendations each week.
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