Penelope Lemon: Game On!

Penelope Lemon is a recent divorc e, closet Metallica fan, and accidental subversive to all the expectations of suburban motherhood. After ending her marriage with James, a woodsy intellectual who favors silky kimonos too short for his knobby knees, Penelope finds herself, at forty, living with her randy mother in her childhood home. Broke and desperate for work, she waitresses at Coonskins, a frontier-themed restaurant where the decor is heavy on stuffed mammals and discarded peanut shells.

Despite the pitfalls of balancing parental duties, jobs, and the vagaries of middle-age life, Penelope pushes through one obstacle after another, trying to regain her independence. Whether fumbling through the world of online dating; coping with a bullying situation involving her son, Theo, something of a gastric wonder on the school bus; or wrestling with the discovery of nude photos from her carefree college days that are not quite as "artistic" as she remembers, Penelope gradually emerges as a modern-day heroine who navigates the assorted inanities of life with verve and humor.

Audacious and laugh-out-loud funny, Inman Majors's new novel holds up a fun-house mirror to the relatable challenges of being a single parent in the digital age. All those who live by the beat of their own drum gain a coconspirator, an accomplice, and a champion in the unstoppable Penelope Lemon.

Author: Inman Majors
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 08/15/2018
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 8.80h x 7.77w x 0.93d
ISBN: 9780807169513

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2018
Booklist 08/01/2018 pg. 27

About the Author
A native of Tennessee, Inman Majors now makes his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of four previous novels--including Love's Winning Plays, The Millionaires, and Wonderdog--and is professor of English at James Madison University.