"A picaresque adventure and spiritual coming-of-age tale —On the Roadcrossed withHenderson the Rain King... Deeply affecting."—Michiko Kakutani,The New York TimesA captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, this is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a rousing story of adventure.Josie and her children's father have split up, she's been sued by a former patient and lost her dental practice, and she's grieving the death of a young man senselessly killed. When her ex asks to take the children to meet his new fiancée's family, Josie makes a run for it, figuring Alaska is about as far as she can get without a passport. Josie and her kids, Paul and Ana, rent a rattling old RV named the Chateau, and at first their trip feels like a vacation: They see bears and bison, they eat hot dogs cooked on a bonfire, and they spend nights...