"Nowhere But Home" is by successful author Liza Palmer, who also wrote the internationally best-selling novel "Conversations With the Fat Girl." In her newest book she takes readers from New York to rural Texas -- and Queenie, the main character, from heartless restaurant owners to the bosom of her family.
Queenie is thrilled to reconnect with her family -- her sister, Merry Carole, and her nephew, Cal. North Star, Texas, on the other hand is not as welcoming as Merry Carole.
Queenie's mother was the local tramp. She was the woman who other women worried was sleeping with their husbands. And oftentimes, she was. In fact, when Queenie was sixteen, her mother was killed -- shot dead with her lover by her lover's wife. Unfortunately, the woman who shot Queenie's mother was also the woman who cared for them when their mother didn't.
Queenie's mother was a mother in name only. The two girls were kicked out of the small house whenever there was a man involved. They would scrounge around for a place to sleep. Their childhood was far, far from ideal.
Unfortunately, in small-town Texas, your pedigree is all-important. Your mother is trash? Well then, so are you. Queenie also has had the misfortune of falling in love with the son of the town's royalty -- Everett Coburn. The love was mutual but would never be recognized by Everett's status conscious parents.
Merry Carole's goal in life has been to own her own beauty salon and be accepted by the towns people. She does own her own salon, but is still yearning for respectability when Queenie arrives in town having been fired from her job as chef in a New York restaurant.
There are many more characters worthy of mention. Cal, Merry Carole's son, is a charming but very real teenager who wants to play football as his ticket to college. There are former friends whose friendships with Queenie are rekindled, and there are the successful, cruel women who were the cruel girls in high school -- just grown up.
The story is as much about what Queenie learns about life and forgiveness as what she learns about love. Queenie arrives in North Star for what she thinks will be a short visit -- to see family and to regroup and figure out what she wants in life.
Her temporary job is cooking the last meals for prisoners before their executions at the local prison. Cooking those meals, preparing for them, making sure they are the best they can be, helps Queenie ponder her future.
The story is about many things. It's about loving what you do and loving good cooking (and after reading the story, you will want a good 'ole Southern meal). It's about loving your family. And it's about loving the one person in the world who you know loves you back.
Corny ending? Maybe. But it's also a perfect ending. Perfectly lovely and just right. The descriptions of Texas heat, Texas women, and Texas food should do wonders for the Texas tourist trade. Sure made me want to take a visit.
Please note: This review is based on the final paperback book provided by the publisher, William Morrow, for review purposes.
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