The early days of summer have arrived at long last on the hot, tantalizing breezes of sunscreen, popsicles, and flip flops galore. Now is the time so many of us feel the need to bust free of our daily restraints and fill our lungs with the sunshiney goodness of the big wide world and everything it has to offer. And what better way to do that than with a good ol’ fashioned road trip!?
Road trips are ripe for adventure, making memories, and, of course, shenanigans, whether that’s seeing the biggest ball of yarn or counting out of state license plates or grappling with familial quirks, there’s no one-size-fits-all road map so I’ve put together five novels that deserve a pit stop on your reading list.
So let’s all pile in the car, crank up the radio, roll the windows down, and start cruising the asphalt highway without leaving the comfort of our favorite armchair. Maybe just maybe one will inspire you to hit the road yourself.
Lost in the Summer of ’69 by Eliza Knight
Following a possibly-losing-her-mind, definitely-rock-fanatic runaway grandmother and her worried family through a summer of music, love and electric possibility on an epic cross-country trip they’ll never forget.
Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews
The Dunigan sisters have been estranged for years, but when their mother’s death brings the family back together, the two find that they have inherited a painting – one that could be worth millions. The only issue is it might be a fake. Finding the original means a road trip – to Ireland, to their family roots and to a mysterious crime that occurred years ago.
A Thousand Miles to Graceland by Kristen Mei Chase
Grace Johnson can’t escape the feeling that her life is on autopilot — until her husband announces he’s done with their marriage. Grace has a wallow in humiliation . . . or reluctantly grant her outlandish mother’s seventieth birthday wish with a road trip to Graceland. Buckle up, Elvis. We’re on our way.
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters – Rajni, Jezmeen and Shirina – barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal, is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking “good” sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life. On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites.
West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
Based on a true story, during the height of the Great Depression in 1938 a seasoned zookeeper, one desperate orphan, and two giraffes who survived a hurricane while at sea make a cross-country road trip to the San Diego zoo.