Prodigal A Novel

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. 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 family secrets won't stay buried. Nikki, who is married to his brother, Russ, has kept the secret that Connor is the father of her son, Drew. But when Drew sustains a serious brain injury and needs blood, only Connor's blood is a match. Connor has to face his past, his cowardice at the Back Home, and his betrayal of his brother. "PRODIGAL" is a modern-day retelling of an age-old story, but unique in the context of a Southern family. Told by multiple narrators, "PRODIGAL" is about forgiveness, redemption, and the sacrifice that love demands.

Phyllis Gobbell writes a little bit of everything— mysteries, true crimes, short stories, creative nonfiction – and now a Southern literary novel, PRODIGAL. Her award-winning stories have appeared in 2 Bridges Review, Bellevue Review, Zone 3, Red Mud Review, Coastal Shelf, Tetrahedra, and HomeWorks. She received Tennessee’ s Individual Artist Award for Literature. Treachery in Tuscany, the third book in her Jordan Mayfair Mystery Series, won a Silver Falchion Award for Best Cozy Mystery. Browse her website, www.phyllisgobbell.com, for more about her writing.