EVERY OTHER THURSDAY

EVERY OTHER THURSDAY


Doreen Trahan, a recent widow in her mid-thirties from New Jersey - naive, socially challenged, and of very moderate means - is invited to visit Rive Perdue, Louisiana by her wealthy sister-in-law Lois Trahan.

Through a bi-weekly women’s club called Every Other Thursday dedicated to “educational presentations,” Lois introduces Doreen to her closest friends. With style and humor, they welcome Doreen and attempt to take her under their wings, encouraging her to break out of her shell. While in Rive Perdue Doreen learns dark secrets about her deceased husband: Many years before, he stole from his parents and his brother. And, having thought her late husband sterile, Doreen learns that he fathered a child who was put up for adoption and lives now in Rive Perdue.

The major employer in the town, a large health care conglomerate, is the source of much of the parish’s income. As Doreen begins to wonder if she might make a life of her own in this new place, rumors of financial corruption within the health company are verified. Indictments of influential people follow. Her husband’s grown child is implicated. The women’s club, “Every Other Thursday” is torn apart; marriages are tested; people even die. In the wake of a sensational trial, townspeople lose their life savings and wealthy people go to prison. How do Doreen, Lois, and their friends fare in all this?

Other publications by Jim Oliver:

CLOSING DISTANCE (novel), 1992, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY and Robert Hale, 1993, London, UK

Book of the Month Club Alternate
Paperback, Alyson Books, LA and NY

WINGS IN THE SNOW (novel), 1998, Alyson Books, LA and NY
National Library Service, audio-book, 2000

__________

To my sister-in-law, Barbara Shea Jones, who while teaching me how to cook Cajun rice also gave me the idea for this book.

The rice was perfect.