Editorial Content for The Road to Enchantment
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Where do I belong? Where is my home? Where is my future? These are the questions that Willow, a 39-year-old cello player, suddenly faces. In a single day she finds herself in a dire situation: She is dumped by her boyfriend of three years and learns that her mother has died in a riding accident. Both of these events are actually a blessing in disguise for Willow. Homeless and almost penniless, she is forced to go to her mother’s ranch to make funeral arrangements and to try and sell it. Arriving there, she also finds out she is pregnant.
Now Willow must decide quickly what to do with her life and that of her unborn baby. She always thought she did not belong anywhere. First, her mother moved her from Washington to New Mexico, where she was the only blond kid in the whole school. Then, her father remarried and focused on his new family. After that, when she finished high school, she moved to L.A. to pursue her music career, unfortunately without too much success. Nothing went the way she had planned. Suddenly she needs to reexamine her life and decide whether to return to her old and empty life in L.A. or build a new one in New Mexico surrounded by her childhood friends and her mother’s friends.
"THE ROAD TO ENCHANTMENT is a beautifully written story about losing yourself in order to find yourself.... In the end, I found myself rooting for Willow and wishing her all the best in the world."
THE ROAD TO ENCHANTMENT is a beautifully written story about losing yourself in order to find yourself. It is about closing a chapter in your life and finding a new one, a coming-of-age tale about making peace with the people in your life and your own past. In addition, it touches upon the fragile relationship between a mother and daughter. When all the layers of drama and eccentricity from the mother’s side and the resentment and shame from the daughter’s side are put away, a pure love remains. The novel also tackles the relationship between friends and the power of community.
The book is told from Willow’s point of view. Her voice is unique, and along with narrating her own life, she presents landscapes of New Mexico, and the magic of Indian (Apache) traditions and beliefs. Full of Willow’s reminiscences, the story goes back and forth in narration, thus creating full insight into her life. This is generally a slow-paced story full of descriptions that sometimes burden the main narrative, e.g. the detailed description of her mother’s dogs. On the other hand, there were instances where the book touched me so deeply that I wanted to cry. When that happened, I completely identified with Willow’s emotions and what she was going through.
In the end, I found myself rooting for Willow and wishing her all the best in the world. This is an enchanting and heartwarming novel that deals with life and all of its ups and downs. It is low in drama, high in insights and revelation, full of life, magical moments and faith --- and is definitely worth reading.
Teaser
As a young girl, Willow watched her mother leave their home in Washington State in a literal blaze of glory: she set the mattress of her cheating husband on fire in her driveway. With that, she and Willow set off to New Mexico. Willow’s eccentric mother believed in this new life and set about starting a winery and goat ranch. But for Willow, it meant initially being bullied and feeling like an outsider. Today, as a grown woman, Willow much prefers Los Angeles and her job as a studio musician. But things tend to happen in threes: her mother dies, her boyfriend dumps her, and she discovers she is pregnant. Can Willow redefine what home means for her, and can she make a go of the legacy her mother left behind?
Promo
As a young girl, Willow watched her mother leave their home in Washington State in a literal blaze of glory: she set the mattress of her cheating husband on fire in her driveway. With that, she and Willow set off to New Mexico. Willow’s eccentric mother believed in this new life and set about starting a winery and goat ranch. But for Willow, it meant initially being bullied and feeling like an outsider. Today, as a grown woman, Willow much prefers Los Angeles and her job as a studio musician. But things tend to happen in threes: her mother dies, her boyfriend dumps her, and she discovers she is pregnant. Can Willow redefine what home means for her, and can she make a go of the legacy her mother left behind?
About the Book
As a young girl, Willow watched her mother leave their home in Washington State in a literal blaze of glory: she set the mattress of her cheating husband on fire in her driveway, roasting marshmallow peeps and hot dogs before the fire department arrived.
And with that, she and Willow set off to New Mexico, to a new life, to a world of arroyos and canyons bordering an Apache reservation. Willow was devastated. Her eccentric mother believed in this new life and set about starting a winery and goat ranch. But for Willow, it meant initially being bullied and feeling like an outsider. Today, as a grown woman, Willow much prefers Los Angeles and her job as a studio musician. But things tend to happen in threes: her mother dies, her boyfriend dumps her, and Willow discovers she is pregnant.
The DeVine Winery and Goat Ranch is all she has left, even if it is in financial straits and unmanageable back taxes. There is something, though, about the call of “home.” She's surprised to find that her Apache best friend Darrel along with the rest of the community seems to think she belongs far more than she ever thought she did. Can Willow redefine what home means for her, and can she make a go of the legacy her mother left behind?
Told with Kaya McLaren’s humor and heart, THE ROAD TO ENCHANTMENT is a story about discovering that the last thing you want is sometimes the one thing you need.
