The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle is about Sabrina, a young woman whose father left her when she was just 5 and whose love of her life left her again and again. Her roommate once asked her, if you could have dinenr with 5 people living or dead, who would you choose? Sabrina is able to make a list but it changes by the time she actually attends this "dinner."
She is dazed when she walks into her birthday dinner with Jessica, no longer her roommate but married with a child, to find all the people on her "dinner list:" her father Robert, a favorite professor, Audrey Hepburn, her "lost" love Tobias, and Jessica, who hasn't had time for the friendship in a long time.
The story proceeds with alternate chapters of the dinner conversation interwoven with what happened during the course of events from the time Sabrina and Jessica were roommates to the present time. Slowly the reason for each guest is revealed, and Sabrina works through many things from her life.
Who would you choose? I'm sure my answer would change time and again, but for now I choose my grandmother Cora because I'd like to hear about her being a teacher and what life was like for her as a young woman, my great-great-grandfather Philip because I want to know what happened to him because I cannot find him anywhere, Johnny Crawford because I enjoyed him so much on The Rifleman, Hailey Mills because she was my favorite actress growing up, and Dale Evans because her books were very inspirational to me.
This is my second outing with Rebecca Serle, and I have enjoyed her writing very much. Her latest book, In Five Years, asks the question, where do you see yourself in five years? I have to wonder if this is going to be the pattern of her books, exploring those questions we ask of oursevles and others.
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