Prodigal by Phyllis Gobbell
It’s the Fourth of July, 2000. In a small Southern town, fireworks light the sky above the City Park, while down the street a smaller flash of light changes everything for 19-year-old Connor Burdette.
He has just lost the girl he loves. Now, buying beer at the Back Home Market, he becomes an accomplice to a shooting. Out of desperation, he runs. It will take ten years and a death to bring him back.
But it’s so hard to come home. The town still blames him for his part in the convenience store shooting. His wealthy grandmother’s will, leaving her fortune to Connor, only causes tension in the family. The Burdettes are caught in the fierce push and pull of loyalties and deception. And like the gun that washes up in a rainstorm, family secrets won’t stay buried.
Nikki, who is married to Connor’s brother, Russ, has kept the most powerful secret of all. Connor has to face his past, his cowardice at the convenience store, and his betrayal of his brother. At the Back Home Market, where it all began, Connor is given one last chance to redeem himself, to be forgiven and to forgive himself.
PRODIGAL is a modern-day retelling of an age-old story, unique in the context of a Southern family. Told by multiple narrators, PRODIGAL is about forgiveness, redemption, and the sacrifice that love demands.
My review
What a lovely book! It’s quite a slow burn, and tells the story of the Burdette family. It’s all about love, forgiveness and atonement.
Nineteen-year-old Connor disappeared ten years ago after a shooting in a convenience store. Everyone thought he did it, though we are pretty sure he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. He hasn’t been in touch with his family since he left – until now.
Lady, his grandmother, is a bit of a battleaxe to be honest. Hard to like. When she dies, she leaves everything to Connor, which is bound to cause conflict in the family. Her son Daniel is a Baptist minister, married to Kitty. Connor is the youngest of their children, the other two being Russ and Ivy. Russ is married to Nikki and they have two sons. It took me a while to work all this out!
So back to the story. It’s not complicated, but there are a lot of characters involved. You may not like all of them (especially Boone). I really loved Connor, not so much Russ or Nikki, though I warmed to her towards the end, which is quite strange, as I probably shouldn’t have. Ivy was my second favourite. I struggled a bit with the religious aspect, particularly Daniel. He’s such a kind person, but the Baptist Church thing grated on me at times. Because of where this is set, it’s very alien to us in the UK, the whole community getting together, judging, vilifying anyone who doesn’t go to church. And the use of the word ‘daddy’ because no-one here says that past the age of ten.
But it’s also a snapshot of life in a small town in the Southern States of America. And it was very emotional at the end. Everyone can be saved, secrets will out, but some dilemmas just can’t be resolved.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Phyllis Gobbell’s most recent book is Prodigal, released in November 2024. In this Southern novel, a young man tries to come home, to find forgiveness. What he finds are long-buried secrets, but he discovers that sacrifice is the price of redemption.
Gobbell writes a little bit of everything, books, short stories, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She has received awards in both fiction and nonfiction, including Tennessee’s Individual Artist Literary Award. She is an associate professor of English at Nashville State Community College, where she teaches writing and literature. On any Tuesday night, you will find her meeting with her writers group that began thirty years ago. She plays the piano and tennis. She is co-author of two true-crime books based on high-profile murders in Nashville: A Season of Darkness, with Doug Jones, and An Unfinished Canvas with Mike Glasgow. Her narrative, Lost Innocence, appeared in the anthology Masters of True Crime. Turning to traditional mysteries, she released the Jordan Mayfair Mystery Series in Spring 2015. Pursuit in Provence was first in the series. It is available in hardback, trade paperback, large print, and audio book (narrated by Aimee Barrett). Recently this first in the series came out as a mass market paperback. Secrets and Shamrocks was released just before Christmas 2016, and in May 2018, Treachery in Tuscany was released. Treachery in Tuscany won Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award for Cozy Mysteries in 2019. Her newest mystery, Notorious in Nashville, came out in November 2023 and was a Top Pick for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award for Cozy Mysteries.
