First published 2001
Chrissy feels strange, like she has been wandering a twisted path her whole life to reach this moment. She travels from Kentucky to England, Alaska, Texas, and Saudi Arabia, searching for something she cannot name. A teenage boy speeds down the interstate hunting for the father who left him years ago. A young woman seeks the genuine connections she knew in her rural childhood as she rolls into Atlanta. Nancy faces the aftermath of being robbed in London. Sandra returns home to care for her family but dreams of escaping back to Alaska and the northern lights that call to her. These restless Americans roam the world and return home again, testing boundaries and feeling toward the moments that will define them. Mason captures their ceaseless movement in spare, precise language as they explore what it means to live in contemporary America.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, travel, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Alaska, England, Kentucky, Saudi Arabia, Texas
Period: contemporary
224 pages · Hardcover · Random House