From the bestselling author of <i>Jewel</i> and <i>The Difference Between Women and Men</i> comes a haunting novel of home, family, and the pursuit of lost dreams. <i>Ancient Highway</i> brilliantly weaves together the hopes and regrets of three characters from three generations as they reconcile who they are and who they might have been.<br><br>In 1925, a fourteen-year-old boy leaves his family's farm and hops a boxcar in a dusty Texas field, heading for Hollywood and a life in the "flickers."<br>In 1947, a ten-year-old girl aches for a real home with a real family in a wide-open space, far from the crowded Los Angeles streets where her handsome cowboy father chases stardom and her mother holds a secret.<br>In 1980, a young man just out of the Navy visits his elderly yet colorful grandparents in Los Angeles, eager to uncover his family's silent history.<br><br>For the Holmeses, a longing for something else-another place, a second chance-seems to run in the family DNA. From Earl's journey west toward Hollywood glory, to his daughter Joan's wish for a normal existence away from the bright lights, to his grandson Brad's yearning for truth, this deep-rooted desire sustains them, no matter how much the goal eludes them. But ultimately, in each generation, a family crisis forces a turning away from the horizon and the acceptance of a reality that is by turns harsh and healing.<br><br>Inspired by stories of his own family, Bret Lott beautifully renders the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary faith in a mesmerizing and finely wrought tale of love and letting go.
