Set in the heart of the Depression era, Dinner With Lisa manages something I wasn’t expecting: a main character I cheered for (even out loud on a few occasions) AND a detailed historical account of an era that made me want to learn more.
Dinner with Lisa is Rod Prendergast’s second novel, following on the heels of his bestselling book, The Impact of a Single Event.
Here’s a description from R.L. Prendergast’s website:
In the disastrous economic times of the 1930s, Joseph Gaston, a young widower with four children, arrives in the small town of Philibuster seeking security for his family. Instead, he faces barriers everywhere. He does his best despite great adversity, but the strain of feeding and protecting his family whittles away his strength. Finally, destitution forces him to consider giving up his children in order to save them. Enraged by his situation, he attempts one last desperate act—on the night he learns about the mysterious Lisa.
R. L. Prendergast does a fantastic job of melding story and history in this novel. Vivid details about the time period, like the vicious dust storms, the Liar’s Bench, and especially the ready-to-snap-at-any-time tension among the unemployed men give this novel the feel of a true story. At the turn of each page Joseph falls further into destitution, and further into the complicated (and dirty) politics of the town of Philibuster. As Joseph’s situation comes to a head, he decides to take desperate measures to keep his children.
Dinner With Lisa is a story filled with characters and well-researched historical details that I won’t soon forget! I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who has in interest in historical fiction, the Depression era, or fiction set in Canada (a personal favourite).
You can watch the book trailer for Dinner with Lisa here.
And you can learn more about R. L. Prendergast on his website, or by following him on Twitter (@RodPrendergast)
A Giveaway!
R. L. Prendergast has generously agreed to award a copy of Dinner with Lisa to one lucky person who comments on this blog before Friday, February 24th! Leave a comment below and be entered for your chance to win!
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Sounds interesting, though the town name puts me off a bit. Too obvious. But your review is promising. So enter me into the draw.
Great review, Carrie. I’m very interested in reading this!
Looks like a good one! Would love to read it.