Recovery Road Trip:

Finding Purpose and Connection on the Journey Home

Following the death of her estranged father, Meg returns from her life in New Zealand to the towns and places in the western United States she grew up in. The weight of this situation’s finality has her feeling lost, and so with her father’s old Ford Mustang and a bit of cash, she goes to visit one of her dearest friends for guidance. The two of them set plans into motion for Meg to take a road trip from coast to coast, looking for answers to life’s biggest questions that have eluded her and networking with old friends and new in the system of addiction recovery that she has benefitted from for years. Each stop on the road offers Meg an opportunity to learn about herself, share her journey with other recovering alcoholics and addicts, and glean wisdom from the remarkable women who cross her path in order to find closure.

The road trip holds a very hallowed and revered place in American literary tradition, highlighting the various walks of life that make up the country’s citizenry while also highlighting the cultural similarities that tie all of these characters and locales together. Meg’s journey hits all the right notes of wandering off the path to find where one truly belongs and making connections and deeper relationships along the way. The reader is invited to do the same, as the second half of this book is full of suggested readings, journaling prompts, and meditation exercises that not only serve to include the reader but also pace the read out regularly, allowing one to savor each chapter bit by bit and then let it stay in the mind and be given ample consideration. Full of forgiveness, positivity, and female empowerment, this book makes for an entirely interactive experience that can heal as well as entertain.

—Michael Radon, The US Review of Books