Book Talk: Not Quite Home by Temple Lentz in Conversation with David Stuart MacLean
Saturday, November 1, 2025, 1500 - 1600
About the book: Claire, wealthy and recently widowed, is adrift. She has access to tools to make a real difference but can't figure out where to apply them. Erica, a young outreach worker to the homeless, has grown so cynical about the broken system that she's breaking rules herself-and for that, she's about to get fired.
One day, Erica finds Claire giving away gourmet sandwiches and twenty-dollar bills at a homeless encampment, and yanks her out of there with a lecture about systemic problems and feel-good solutions. Their conflict soon becomes a partnership, and they craft a plan to help ten unhoused women get off the streets and build a community of their own. Together, they navigate nasty neighbors and difficult politicians. And just when it seems like they're going to pull it off, a shadow from one woman's past jeopardizes the entire project.
About the author: Temple Lentz is a nonprofit CEO and former local elected official. She has also been a stagehand, a security guard, a waitress, an exercise instructor, and a tour guide. Her writing has appeared in the several weekly newspapers and a couple of anthologies. She has lived mostly in central Ohio, Chicago, and the Pacific Northwest. Not Quite Home is her first book.
About the interlocutor: David MacLean is a PEN/America award winning essayist. His memoir, The Answer to the Riddle is Me, was published in 2014. He's also published a novel, How I Learned To Hate in Ohio. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two kids and a dog and a cat.
Category: Arts | Books and Literature | Book Signings
One day, Erica finds Claire giving away gourmet sandwiches and twenty-dollar bills at a homeless encampment, and yanks her out of there with a lecture about systemic problems and feel-good solutions. Their conflict soon becomes a partnership, and they craft a plan to help ten unhoused women get off the streets and build a community of their own. Together, they navigate nasty neighbors and difficult politicians. And just when it seems like they're going to pull it off, a shadow from one woman's past jeopardizes the entire project.
About the author: Temple Lentz is a nonprofit CEO and former local elected official. She has also been a stagehand, a security guard, a waitress, an exercise instructor, and a tour guide. Her writing has appeared in the several weekly newspapers and a couple of anthologies. She has lived mostly in central Ohio, Chicago, and the Pacific Northwest. Not Quite Home is her first book.
About the interlocutor: David MacLean is a PEN/America award winning essayist. His memoir, The Answer to the Riddle is Me, was published in 2014. He's also published a novel, How I Learned To Hate in Ohio. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two kids and a dog and a cat.
Category: Arts | Books and Literature | Book Signings
Starting Price Per Person
Free
Other Information
Where
57th Street Books
1301 East 57th Street
Chicago Illinois 60637
United States
( Retail Space - Shop - Mall )
1301 East 57th Street
Chicago Illinois 60637
United States
( Retail Space - Shop - Mall )
Event Organizer Contact
More Events
Event ID: 260144
Get Events in Your Inbox
We have over 100,000 Events in 80+ Categories. Tell us what type of events you like, and we will send them to your inbox