In light of the current state of affairs (pick one: the government, the economy, climate change, war, etc.), I find myself gravitating these days toward books that entertain and comfort.
And one of the tropes I find most comforting in fiction is the found family — stories about an odd assemblage of unrelated people who come together to form an awkward but loving unit.
Tennessee author Kevin Wilson’s new novel is kind of the opposite of that, but it has the same effect.
“Run for the Hills” (Ecco, $30) is about four strangers ranging in age from 11 to 44 who have recently discovered they are half-siblings. Turns out, their footloose father had a habit of starting families and abandoning them as he migrated westward. Now they want answers. Together they are barreling across the country to Northern California in a rented PT Cruiser to confront him.
Wilson is a master of writing about family. His 2011 bestseller “The Family Fang” was about adult siblings dealing with the disappearance of their elderly parents, a pair of retired performance artists known for pulling outrageous public stunts. “Nothing to See Here” was a 2019 masterpiece about a woman entrusted with the care of a friend’s 10-year-old twins who burst into flames when they get angry.
While the subversive qualities that gave those books their appealing edge is absent here, “Run for the Hills” spins an engaging yarn about loss and how it can sometimes lead to fortune. And it does so with a lot of humor.
The quest at the center of the book is initiated by Ruben, a mystery author from Boston, who picks up Madeline, an organic farmer, from her spread in Coalfield, Tennessee. Together they track down Pepper, a women’s NCAA basketball star and soon-to-be graduate from the University of Oklahoma. Tall, blond and square-jawed, they are alike in ways more than physical. They are also socially isolated, romantically unattached, only children (or so they thought) raised by single moms.
The last sibling to join the journey is Tom, an intense fifth grader and aspiring filmmaker from Salt Lake City. Physically, he’s an outlier with his tiny frame, pale complexion and dark hair, and he cuts a striking figure with his froggy voice, baggy T-shirts and ever-present video camera. But like his siblings, he is an emotional silo who abhors physical touch.
In the process of getting to know one another, the siblings glean new intel about their father who reinvented himself with each new family. Rube’s father was an insurance salesman and wannabe novelist. Mad’s was a farmer. Pep’s was a high school basketball coach, and Tom’s was a corporate filmmaker. All of his children followed in his professional footsteps, but that’s not all. They also enjoyed happy childhoods with a loving father until he vanished without warning.
“Their father had never been a bad parent. He had always been attentive, loving and patient. He had only become a bad parent when he disappeared …”
As their journey progresses, the dynamics between the siblings constantly shift as their number grows and they encounter various challenges. Eventually their guards are lowered and tiny bonds are forged.
Right before they reach their final destination, Mad tells Rube that she’d never experienced anxiety before she met him. To which Rube replies, “That only means that you are, you know, truly living.”
It’s noteworthy that despite their quirks and differences, each of the siblings accepts the others just as they are, giving them space to be true to themselves and engage on equal footing. In that respect, considering the current state of affairs, “Run for the Hills” may be subversive after all.
Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur presents Wilson in conversation with playwright Topher Payne on May 19. For details to go eagleeyebooks.com.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at [email protected].
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