First published 2022
Jack buries his mother and remembers her final words about running and never looking back. He built a fortune but lost his family along the way. Now he carries only a backpack toward South America, where strangers with empty pockets might teach him what wealth cannot buy. Hunter beats his boss for abusing a dog, then learns his father died in a suspicious fire. He rides west from North Carolina to California with his biker friends Nugget and Itch, following stories from his father's past that reveal hidden truths. Seventeen-year-old Anne cracks her attacking brother over the head with a skillet and jumps a freight train to Alabama with her best friend. They survive day to day on the streets, building bonds with other outcasts. Three separate journeys across America become searches for the same missing piece: a place to belong.
Genres: fiction, drama, adventure, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption
Setting: Alabama, America, California, North Carolina, South America
Period: 21st-century
292 pages · Hardcover · Blackstone Publishing