NEW RELEASE
Nowhere But Home - Liza Palmer (2013)
Queen Elizabeth "Queenie" Wake has just returned home to North Star, Texas, after being fired ... again. After several years spent working as a chef in kitchens across the country, she decides it might be time to take stock of her life. While her sister, Merry Carole, and nephew, Cal, welcome her with open arms, the rest of the town still considers the Wake family to be the lowest of the low, even after all these years. When she takes a job cooking last meals in the death house of the local prison, a job she realises she loves, Queenie tries to reconcile the numerous ghosts from her past and contemplates staying in North Star or once again moving on. This book is emotional, funny and heartbreaking. It's easy to become swept up in the petty high school dramas that play out between the Wake sisters and the mean girls, the small-town atmosphere where everyone knows your business (even when you think they don't), and the sense of purpose and belonging that Queenie is so desperate to find. Liza Palmer (and her books) continues to impress. Do not miss this one. (LEK)
Liza Palmer heads off to Texas in her latest novel, Nowhere But Home. The summary says: "Queenie Wake has just been fired from her job as a chef for not allowing a customer to use ketchup . . . again. Now the only place she has to go is North Star, Texas, the hometown she left in disgrace. Maybe things will be different this time around. After all, her mother - notorious for stealing your man, your car, and your rent money - has been dead for years. And Queenie's sister, once the local teenage harlot who fooled around with the town golden boy, is now the mother of the high school football captain. Queenie's new job, cooking last meals at the nearby prison, is going well . . . at least the inmates don't complain! But apparently small-town Texas has a long memory for bad reputations. And when Queenie bumps into Everett Coburn, the high school sweetheart who broke her heart, she wishes her own memory was a little spottier. But before Queenie takes another chance on love, she'll have to take an even bigger risk: finding a place to call home once and for all." Nowhere But Home is out in April.