A Final Meal with Those who Meant So much to Us

Edited by Erica Heller

Favorite quote: From Jesse Kornbluth (her imagined lunch with Nora Ephron years after her death)

“What’s it like… over there?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“I can’t. Words are inadequate.”

Imagine that: a description of eternity eludes a writer who had something to say about everything.

“Forgive me?”

I didn’t mean to ask that, but as soon as I did, I knew this was why I’d wanted this conversation with Nora. All these years later, I still felt her power, still hoped for her approval.

“Death is nothing but forgiveness.”

From the publisher: In this heartwarming collection edited by Joseph Heller's daughter, dozens of contributors imagine one last lunch with someone they cherished.

Heller, an acclaimed memoirist herself, has asked friends and family of authors, artists, musicians, comedians, actors, and others, to recount one such fantastic repast. Muffie Meyer and her documentary subject Little Edie Beale go to a deli in Montreal. Kirk Douglas asks his father what he thought of him becoming an actor. Sara Moulton dines with her friend Julia Child. The Anglican priest George Pitcher has lunch with Jesus. These richly imagined stories are endlessly revealing, about the subject, the writer, the passage of time, regret, gratitude, and the power of enduring love.

Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 / 352 pages

Hardcover