Prodigal: A Novel
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.

5 out of 5 fairies

A mistake can cause your life to change in the blink of an eye – or a shot from a gun, but either way, for Connor, it’ll never be the same. Gobbell expertly draws you into his story, and doesn’t let you go until the very last page. There’s a literary lilt to the story, and although it touches on many topics, how much a person can grow and change, facing old hurts, and the bonds that tie us together are woven together to take center stage. The story is compelling, maybe because it could’ve happened in any of many small towns. If you’ve lived in a small town, you might recognize some of the dynamics at play, which are brought to life expertly. It’s not just the imagery – it’s how real the characters feel that keep you captivated by the story. They all feel like real people, like you could walk into the local grocery and see them browsing the aisles too. The story itself moves along at a good pace, and it was honestly surprising when I reached the end to realize just how long I’d been sitting there reading. I cannot recommend this enough if you want a book that will make you feel connected to the characters on a whole new level.

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Phyllis Gobbell writes a little bit of everything—mysteries, true crimes, short stories, creative nonfiction. Notorious in Nashville is her sixth book, with a seventh to be released in Fall 2024.

Her award-winning stories have appeared in 2 Bridges Review, Bellevue Review, Zone 3, Well Read Magazine, 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.

Other books in the mystery series are Pursuit in Provence, Secrets and Shamrocks, and now, Notorious in Nashville.

Before she began her mystery series, Gobbell co-authored two true crimes, An Unfinished Canvas and Season of Darkness, based on two high-profile murders that have become part of Nashville’s history.

An English professor for twenty years, she served on the faculty at Nashville State Community College, where she taught composition, literature, and creative writing and edited the college’s literary journal. Recently she has taught creative writing in Lipscomb University’s Lifelong Learning Program.

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