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Breakfast at Sally's by Richard LeMieux, Part 30

Once a happily married businessman, avid golfer, and the proud owner of three boats and several luxury cars, conservative-minded Richard LeMieux saw his fortune change almost overnight. In this astonishingly heartfelt memoir, he describes his descent into homelessness and his struggle to survive personal and economic disaster. Evicted from his home in 2002 and living with his dog, Willow, in a beat-up old van, LeMieux finds himself penniless and estranged from his family and friends. He dines at the Salvation Army (aka Sally’s), attempts suicide, and is treated at a mental hospital where he is diagnosed with depression.

Writing on a secondhand manual typewriter, first at a picnic table in a public park, and then wherever he can, LeMieux describes his odyssey and the quirky, diverse, and endearing cast of characters found among the homeless people of Bremerton, Washington, and, by extension, everywhere else. Breakfast at Sally’s is a rare inside-look at how the other America lives, and how one man, beaten down and alone, was able to reconnect, find good people, and ultimately, with their help, to persevere. (From Skyhorse Publishing)

 
Breakfast at Sally's is read by SPR volunteer Jeff Hazen.

Chris Maccini previously worked at SPR as Morning Edition host and producing arts and special programming such as The Bookshelf, Poetry Moment, Northwest Arts Review, special features and more.