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A review by saareman
Moon Road by Sarah Leipciger
5.0
On the Road to Find Out
Review of the NetGalley Kindle ARC (downloaded July 31, 2024) of the upcoming Penguin Random House Canada paperback (August 27, 2024).
Kathleen and Yannick are the 70+ something parents of daughter Una who went missing in Tofino, British Columbia close to 22 years ago. They were already divorced by that time and in the intervening years Yannick has remarried twice and parented 4 other children. He hasn't even spoken to Kathleen for 19 years. Kathleen has withdrawn into a somewhat curmudgeonly life (apparently the female equivalent is supposed to be termagant, but does anyone really know that word?) of flower farming in a small town on the Otonabee River (near Peterborough) in Ontario, Canada.
Yannick suddenly appears at Kathleen's annual remembrance party for Una. Both of them have received a phone call from RCMP investigators in British Columbia. Unidentified bones have been found when a hiking trail was being cleared / built in parklands outside Tofino. Kathleen's DNA* is required for testing but she has hesitated to provide it, perhaps wanting to keep hope alive in Una's possible survival. Yannick convinces her to join him in a cross-country road trip (he is afraid of flying) to British Columbia to provide the DNA (rather than do it via a local lab) and to also seek some closure at the site where the bones were found.
A map which mostly traces Kathleen and Yannick's journey across Canada. Note that the direct route map (see in the Trivia below) through the States is not correct, although that would have been a shorter journey. Map image obtained from Google Maps.
That setup perhaps overstays its welcome, but when they hit the road and both bicker and snipe at each other, but gradually reconnect, the book really came alive for me. I've always enjoyed road books and this one had the humour and the pain of old partners becoming reacquainted and reaching a new found acceptance. The book examines the different ways we deal with family and grief as it contrasts Kathleen's and Yannick's lives.
As the journey progresses, we read flashbacks of their original trip to Tofino when Una was first reported missing. We also get intermittent peeks into Una's own life in her fateful final days. Not everyone's questions will be answered by the end, but the reader does obtain closure and Sarah Leipciger provides a somewhat transcendental conclusion.
My thanks to author Sarah Leipciger, Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this preview ARC, in exchange for which I provide this honest review.
Soundtrack
It also provided my lede, as I couldn't help but think of the Cat Stevens song On the Road to Find Out from the Tea for the Tillerman (1970) album. You can listen to that track on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
In the book, Kathleen is listening to the car radio when an old favourite song of hers by the Violent Femmes comes on. The song is unnamed, but from the few sample lyrics quoted it is obviously American Music from the Why Do Birds Sing? (1991) album. You can listen to the song on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
Footnote, Trivia and Links
* The DNA genealogical testing which only a mother can do is Mitochondrial DNA or mDNA testing. These are passed unchanged from mother to child but not by the father. It is especially useful in the forensic & anthropological cases of testing bones in which the nuclear DNA is degraded. You can read more about Mitochondrial DNA at Wikipedia.
Author Sarah Leipciger provides an article which features photographs of some of the locations in Kathleen's & Yannick's journey. The default map which shows the shortest journey through the United States is not the actual trip through Canada though. You can read the article Travel to Canada's Moon Road with Sarah Leipciger at The Book Trail.
Review of the NetGalley Kindle ARC (downloaded July 31, 2024) of the upcoming Penguin Random House Canada paperback (August 27, 2024).
Kathleen and Yannick are the 70+ something parents of daughter Una who went missing in Tofino, British Columbia close to 22 years ago. They were already divorced by that time and in the intervening years Yannick has remarried twice and parented 4 other children. He hasn't even spoken to Kathleen for 19 years. Kathleen has withdrawn into a somewhat curmudgeonly life (apparently the female equivalent is supposed to be termagant, but does anyone really know that word?) of flower farming in a small town on the Otonabee River (near Peterborough) in Ontario, Canada.
Yannick suddenly appears at Kathleen's annual remembrance party for Una. Both of them have received a phone call from RCMP investigators in British Columbia. Unidentified bones have been found when a hiking trail was being cleared / built in parklands outside Tofino. Kathleen's DNA* is required for testing but she has hesitated to provide it, perhaps wanting to keep hope alive in Una's possible survival. Yannick convinces her to join him in a cross-country road trip (he is afraid of flying) to British Columbia to provide the DNA (rather than do it via a local lab) and to also seek some closure at the site where the bones were found.
A map which mostly traces Kathleen and Yannick's journey across Canada. Note that the direct route map (see in the Trivia below) through the States is not correct, although that would have been a shorter journey. Map image obtained from Google Maps.
That setup perhaps overstays its welcome, but when they hit the road and both bicker and snipe at each other, but gradually reconnect, the book really came alive for me. I've always enjoyed road books and this one had the humour and the pain of old partners becoming reacquainted and reaching a new found acceptance. The book examines the different ways we deal with family and grief as it contrasts Kathleen's and Yannick's lives.
As the journey progresses, we read flashbacks of their original trip to Tofino when Una was first reported missing. We also get intermittent peeks into Una's own life in her fateful final days. Not everyone's questions will be answered by the end, but the reader does obtain closure and Sarah Leipciger provides a somewhat transcendental conclusion.
My thanks to author Sarah Leipciger, Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this preview ARC, in exchange for which I provide this honest review.
Soundtrack
It also provided my lede, as I couldn't help but think of the Cat Stevens song On the Road to Find Out from the Tea for the Tillerman (1970) album. You can listen to that track on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
In the book, Kathleen is listening to the car radio when an old favourite song of hers by the Violent Femmes comes on. The song is unnamed, but from the few sample lyrics quoted it is obviously American Music from the Why Do Birds Sing? (1991) album. You can listen to the song on YouTube here or on Spotify here.
Footnote, Trivia and Links
* The DNA genealogical testing which only a mother can do is Mitochondrial DNA or mDNA testing. These are passed unchanged from mother to child but not by the father. It is especially useful in the forensic & anthropological cases of testing bones in which the nuclear DNA is degraded. You can read more about Mitochondrial DNA at Wikipedia.
Author Sarah Leipciger provides an article which features photographs of some of the locations in Kathleen's & Yannick's journey. The default map which shows the shortest journey through the United States is not the actual trip through Canada though. You can read the article Travel to Canada's Moon Road with Sarah Leipciger at The Book Trail.