First published 2003
Kate is eight years old when her mother decides to leave their stable life behind. Her divorced mother has fallen for someone new, and suddenly Kate and her sisters are living on the road in the early 1970s. This nomadic existence feels like a strange kind of freedom at first, completely different from their previous life with their geologist father. The girls adapt to constant movement and uncertainty while their mother pursues this new relationship. But as they travel farther from everything familiar, the adults around them become increasingly distracted and careless. Kate watches as the precarious world her mother has built begins to crumble. The freedom that once seemed exciting now threatens to destroy everything Kate holds dear. Adult neglect and poor decisions push the family toward a breaking point that could shatter Kate's childhood completely.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: United States
Period: 1970s
256 pages · Paperback · Mariner Books
Content warnings: child-abuse