“Highly recommended for all parents . . . This memoir will alternately cause readers to smile and tear up . . . Filled with warmth, affection, and good humor” (Library Journal).
When Claudia’s sixteen-year-old son, Ross, announces he’s quitting high school and leaving home a year early, she panics. They’ve become so disconnected that she’s afraid she’ll lose him forever. Then a small miracle happens—they discover they have the same escape fantasy, to head west on I-10 to where she grew up, in Corpus Christi, Houston, and Kingsville, Texas. So, on a tight budget, they travel from Tallahassee to Texas and back, 2,400 miles in one week.
But the distance they cover transcends the miles that they drive. Along the way Claudia recounts the sometimes hilarious, often harrowing, but ultimately courageous Texas family story that defined her childhood and is Ross’s heritage—a story that centers on her own mother’s escape from a family history of dysfunction, alcoholism, and abuse to create a life for herself and a loving home for her children. As Claudia and Ross spend time together, sharing stories and laughter, she’s able to see more clearly the young man her son has become, and he takes responsibility for his unhappiness and finds a solution. This is both a page-turning memoir of their journey and a spirited testament to the crucial bond between mothers and children.
“Hurtling Toward Happiness thrives from a quick pace and energetic dialogue that shows genuine warmth between mother and son. Reading it, I almost felt as if I were watching a play. I also felt like renting a sweet ride and hitting the road.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Hurtling Toward Happiness is medicine for mothers who want to connect with their teenage sons. Its prescription for estrangement is a road trip with music, conversation, truth telling, and adventure . . . inspiring.” —Mary Pipher, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia and Seeking Peace
