First published 2026
Nine-year-old watches movers carry away his dead father's belongings in 1982 Florida. His clothes disappear. His fake leather chair gets loaded onto a truck. His martial arts instructor tells him to transform weakness into strength. His gym teacher mocks how he runs. His mother places a personal ad seeking companionship. The boy struggles to learn these lessons while his father's memory fades into something almost fictional. Twenty-five years pass. Now he lives in suburban Southern California with a wife and young son. He fumbles through parenting, telling his child that Candyland comes from real events and wondering why skateboarding invitations have stopped coming. When he finds his father's travel journal, he decides to retrace that mysterious trip with his own son. They drive north along the Pacific Coast through fog and stunning scenery. He works to decode his father's cryptic notes while his relationship with his son gains new weight and meaning. Moffett crafts an intimate story about fatherhood and discovery.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, memoir, realistic-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, introspective, lyrical, melancholic, poignant, reflective
Tropes: found-connection, generational-trauma, journey-of-discovery, parallel-narratives
Setting: Florida, Southern California, Pacific Coast
Period: 1982, 2007
216 pages · Paperback · McSweeney's Publishing
Content warnings: death