Witty.  Tender.  Offbeat. 

 

With his trademark brand of humor and heart, Wilson is back with another outrageous storyline that entertains as much as it delights.  

 

Organic farmer, Mad, sold out of eggs.  That’s not unusual.  Neighbors and strangers alike frequented her farm stand.  But something completely new—an unexpected visit from, not a shopper, but a before-unknown half-sibling.  Even more surprising, her willingness to take a cross-country road trip with him in search of 2 other previously unknown siblings.  But PT Cruisers, even if absurd, are made to be filled with family and trekked across many a mile on a journey of discovery.  

 

I’ve come to expect Wilson’s plotlines to be distinct and zany.  (My first foray with him involved combustible children, after all.)  And while I kept shaking my head at the clown-car-eque addition of siblings, I also found myself deeply engaged in watching the seemingly impossible become a warm and uplifting storyline rife with laughter and poignancy.  

 

The true beauty in this read is its eccentric cast of characters.  Each character was fully unique, and yet inextricably linked to the others. From an author to a farmer to a star athlete and a burgeoning film maker.  Stoic yet needy.  Resilient yet broken.  Different and yet innately similar.

These four, once strangers and now siblings, became a family right in front of my eyes—as though a necessary fulfilling of fate.  

 

At its heart, Run for the Hills is a light yet affecting story about what makes a family and how we choose to let family define us.  It’s a look at the ways absence shapes us, and the ways that connection heals. 

 

And while the storyline could’ve explored its themes with more depth and definity, I think this more open-ended assessment allowed broader resonance.  

 

🎧 Knowing this was narrated by the incomparable Marin Ireland, I more-than-willingly used my @librofm credit on the audiobook for a fully immersive, tandem reading experience.  And, as always, Ireland more than delivered.  An exceptional performance, and money well spent.   

Many thanks to my friends at @eccobooks for the free #gifted copy of this book.