The heroine of this nostalgic, moving and sweetly funny memoir is Evelyn Ryan - the author's mother - who supports her ten children and unhelpful husband by winning competitions. Terry Ryan recounts with warmth and love how her mom wrote rhymes, completed sentences and composed promotional poems at the ironing board, making sure the family never went without in small town 50s America. But as Terry Ryan's father sunk further and further into violent alcoholism, and secretly took out a second mortgage on their home, plunging the family into eviction threats and empty cupboards, Evelyn's competing took on a more desperate tone. The success of her rhymes were now essential if the Ryan family were to survive together. Truly inspirational, funnier and more heartwarming than fiction The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is a wonderful tribute to a mother who raised her children with love, spirit and happiness against all the odds.