Editorial Content for The Road to Tender Hearts
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Over the years, I have come to realize that I enjoy a good road trip novel much more than I would an actual road trip. Maybe that's partially because my expectations for what a road trip could, or should, be have been increasingly colored by those self-same books. After all, how could endless hours on the interstate compare with a fictional road trip like the one Annie Hartnett has invented, involving long-lost relatives, a slew of other colorful characters, an alligator named T. Boone Pickens, a cat who may or may not be an agent of death, and a sprinkle or two of magic?
Winning $1.5 million in the Massachusetts state lottery might have been the best, or worst, thing that ever happened to 63-year-old PJ Halliday. Okay, it's definitely not the worst thing --- that dubious honor goes to the death of his older daughter, Kate, who drowned in a cranberry bog on the night of her senior prom. Winning the lottery, though, did give PJ just the time and money he needed to spend his days drinking himself into a stupor and pining over his ex-wife, Ivy.
"THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS is a big-hearted meditation on caregiving, second chances, and the miracle of living (and laughing) in the midst of death."
Now Ivy and her long-time boyfriend, Fred, are heading off to Alaska on the trip of a lifetime, and PJ is feeling lonely and bereft. Upon learning that his long-ago high school crush, Michelle Cobb, has been widowed recently, PJ hatches a plan to "borrow" Fred's car and head off to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Tucson, Arizona, for one last chance at happiness. Little does PJ know that a tragedy unfolding just a few blocks away in Pondville, Massachusetts, is about to upend his own life in the best way possible.
Overnight, nine-year-old Ollie and 10-year-old Luna have been orphaned as the result of a particularly grisly murder-suicide. Their grandfather was PJ's estranged brother, making PJ their closest living relative --- and their new, rather unlikely, guardian. Hell-bent on getting to Michelle, PJ invites the kids along on his road trip and enlists his recently unemployed younger daughter, Sophie, for the ride. They're also accompanied by that "agent of death" cat, Pancakes, who knows more than he's letting on.
In an author's note at the end of the book, Hartnett explains that THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS was born out of a challenge she set herself --- to write a funny novel about some of the worst tragedies that can befall people. It’s safe to say that she succeeds. The book is wise, witty and emotional without ever veering into sappiness. PJ's journey is a literal one, but it's also metaphorical. He takes more than a few detours on his road to a sobriety that might enable him to care for these youngsters with his whole self, in a way that he still regrets not being able to do for his own daughters.
Readers who are parents themselves --- or are fond of children --- will have a hard time not tearing up at a couple of key moments in the novel, as PJ and Sophie wrap their heads around their new roles as caregivers. THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS is a big-hearted meditation on caregiving, second chances, and the miracle of living (and laughing) in the midst of death. Pancakes sums it up near the end of the book: "Death is a magnificent invention, the cat knew, because it's the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful."
Teaser
At 63 years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. He probably doesn’t have much time left as he’s had three heart attacks already. But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes that his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. So he decides to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before he can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for --- a fresh shot at love and parenting --- but does he have the strength to do both those things again?
Promo
At 63 years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. He probably doesn’t have much time left as he’s had three heart attacks already. But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes that his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. So he decides to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before he can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for --- a fresh shot at love and parenting --- but does he have the strength to do both those things again?
About the Book
A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush --- bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids and a cat who can predict death --- by the beloved author of RABBIT CAKE and UNLIKELY ANIMALS.
At 63 years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar and he probably doesn’t have much time left --- he’s had three heart attacks already.
But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.
Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also thinks he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter who’s adrift in her 20s, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home.
This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for --- a fresh shot at love and parenting --- but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.
Audiobook available, read by Mark Bramhall
