A woman sets out on a cross-country road trip, unknowingly tracing in
reverse the path her mother traveled thirty years before.
"Tender, touching, original, and rich with delicious period detail of
Hollywood's heyday--buckle up, because you'll definitely want to go on a
road trip after reading this delightful book!"--Hazel Gaynor, New York
Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home
In the 1950s, movie star Louise Wilde is caught between an unfulfilling
acting career and a shaky marriage when she receives an out-of-the-blue
phone call: She has inherited the estate of Florence "Florrie" Daniels,
a Hollywood screenwriter she barely recalls meeting. Among Florrie's
possessions are several unproduced screenplays, personal journals,
and--inexplicably--old photographs of Louise's mother, Ethel. On an
impulse, Louise leaves a film shoot in Las Vegas and sets off for her
father's house on the East Coast, hoping for answers about the curious
inheritance and, perhaps, about her own troubled marriage.
Nearly thirty years earlier, Florrie takes off on an adventure of her
own, driving her Model T westward from New Jersey in pursuit of broader
horizons. She has the promise of a Hollywood job and, in the passenger
seat, Ethel, her best friend since childhood. Florrie will do anything
for Ethel, who is desperate to reach Nevada in time to reconcile with
her husband and reunite with her daughter. Ethel fears the loss of her
marriage; Florrie, with long-held secrets confided only in her journal,
fears its survival.
In parallel tales, the three women--Louise, Florrie, Ethel--discover
that not all journeys follow a map. As they rediscover their carefree
selves on the road, they learn that sometimes the paths we follow are
shaped more by our traveling companions than by our destinations.
