Memoirs & Coffee Book Group to Discuss "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio"

The next meeting of Bernardsville Public Library’s book discussion group, Memoirs and Coffee, will be held on Tuesday, May 23 at 10:30 am. Manager Pat Kennedy-Grant will lead the discussion of "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio - How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" (2001) by Terry Ryan.

In the book, Terry writes of her mother Evelyn, the wife of an alcoholic husband and mother of ten children. The family lived in a small town in a time and place when women did not seek jobs outside the home. When finances ran low, feeling desperate, Evelyn turned to her parish priest who suggested she "take in laundry." Ryan had to laugh at this advice because she could barely keep up with her own family's washing and ironing. A lesser woman might have succumbed to poverty, but she was determined to keep her family financially afloat and to teach her children that the life of the mind was important. In the early 1950s, Ryan started entering contests, composing her jingles, poems, and essays at the ironing board. She won household appliances, bikes, watches, clocks, and, occasionally, cash. She won a freezer, and several weeks later, she won a supermarket shopping-spree. When the family was faced with eviction, she received a $5000 first place check from the regional Western Auto Store. Ryan's unconventionality and sense of humor triumphed over poverty, and her persistence makes the reader cheer her on.

There is no charge to join the book discussion and no registration is needed. Call the library at 766-0118 for more information.