The Rhythm of the Road
by Albyn Leah Hall
The
only American thing about Jo is her mother, whom she has never met.
Jo’s flawed and drug addicted mother abandoned the family
shortly after Jo's premature birth and returned to America. The
gentle, melancholy Bobby Pickering loves his baby daughter, and
takes her with him everyplace. Jo grows up in the front seat of
her father's truck, and shares his love of country music, junk food,
and the open highway in England and Ireland.
Cosima
Stewart is an American country singer whose band is touring England.
Bobby and twelve-year-old Jo pick her up hitch-hiking one day and
become dedicated fans. But Bobby has dark silent moods that lead
him, finally, into total despair and tragedy. Jo is discovering
her sexuality and is pursuing her independence in a journey filled
with teen angst and uncertainties. She nurtures an infatuation with
Cosima and her band, and talks Bobby into taking her to their shows.
Then, when Bobby apparently commits suicide, Jo attaches herself
to Cosima and the band, following them to America and all the way
to California in search of the self she can't find.
This
story is the unsettling study of a young woman trying to escape
from her uncertainties and deal with emotions that spiral downward
to the brink of insanity, culminating in an unpredictable outcome.
Albyn Leah Hall's debut novel is a compelling story that will stay
with you long after you have read it; a very insightful work of
literary achievement.
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The
Reviewer |
Beverly
J. Rowe |
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