Women on the Road
...or, Move Over Thelma and Louise
Old Boyfriends by Rexanne Becnel
Best friends in California, neglected housewife Bitsey, trophy wife M.J. and divorcée Cat are all "Grits": girls raised in the South. When the death of M.J.'s husband leaves her destitute on the eve of Bitsey's 30th high school reunion, the three plan a road trip to their hometown of New Orleans, and the boyfriend each has left behind.
Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
Nan turns 50 and hits the road, leaving behind her husband of 25 years and a daughter bound for college. Alternating between diary entries and letters sent to her husband, Nan reveals her fear of aging and her encounters with people on the road, including hilarious conversations with a snobby hairdresser and a chatty waiter obsessed with angels.
20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak
Delilah, unhappy with how many men she has slept with, takes off on a cross-country trip determined to find "the one" among her former lovers. But she soon discovers that the men of her romantic past: an inmate, a rehab patient, a dog-obsessed Amway salesman and a Muppeteer among them, aren’t exactly life-partner material.
Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way by Linda Bruckheimer
Sisters Rebecca and Carleen head cross country to Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky, for a reunion with their sister Irene and their mother Lila Mae's seventy-fifth birthday, and find themselves dealing with ruthless real estate developers, a devious insurance scheme, an attractive McDonalds' executive.
Mad River Road by Joy Fielding
While an ex-con sets out to exact revenge against his former wife for her role in his imprisonment, a woman in Florida is convinced by a seductive stranger to quit her dead-end job in order to pursue a more exciting life.
Gardenias for Breakfast by Robin Gunn
While taking her daughter Hannah on a trip across the United States to Louisiana to obtain the blessing of her great-grandmother, Abby has unexpected encounters with other members of her family, including her estranged mother.
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
After high school, Arlene Fleet left tiny Possett, AL, for Chicago, vowing never to return. Despite pleas over the decade to come home, Arlene reconsiders only after a sudden visit from a former classmate. In chapters alternating between 1997 and 1985, the story tells what prompted the murder of a football hero in Arlene's hometown.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Taylor Greer grew up poor in Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a beat up car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots.
Nowhere is a Place by Bernice McFadden
Having struggled throughout her life for an understanding of her identity, Sherry wonders at an uncharacteristic display of anger on the part of her mother and digs into her family's past throughout the course of a cross-country journey.
Loop Group by Larry McMurtry
Anticipating the onset of her later years, Maggie leaves behind her manipulative daughters to accompany her best friend, Connie, for one final fling, but a series of misadventures prompts their desperate, gun-toting journey to a Texas ranch.
Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult
For years, Jane has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned oceanographer Oliver. But during an escalating argument, Jane turns on him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with their teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey to her brother’s farm in Massachusetts, where surprising self-discoveries await.
Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish
Annie passes away at the youthful age of 56, leaving her high-school friend, Katherine, responsible for organizing her traveling funeral. Katherine receives a UPS package with Annie's favorite pair of red high-top sneakers, which contain her ashes, and instructions to contact four other women who played pivotal roles in her life. All of the women agree to fulfill her request that they fly across the country yogether and disperse her ashes at places meaningful to Annie.
California Girl by Patricia Rice
When her eccentric, elderly friend Mame, upset over the delay in their road trip along historic Route 66, sneaks out of the hospital to embark on her own nostalgic odyssey, free-spirited Alys Seagraves, accompanied by Mame's nephew, serious doctor Elliot, sets out in an aging pink Cadillac to find the runaway.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Champion hitchhiker Sissy Hankshaw, braless and free, makes her way across the confused and paranoid America of the 1970s, gathering knowledge and experience, friends and suitors, and all sorts of unusual acquaintances.
Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas by Barbara Samuel
Forty-year-old India finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of her flamboyant mother, Eldora, who insists that the two of them hit the road to Las Vegas, searching for India's twin sister, Gypsy, a reclusive artist, along the way.
Earthly Possessions by Ann Tyler
Charlotte Emory has always lived a quiet, conventional and simple life in Clarion, Maryland. One day decides to simplify everything and leave her husband. Her last trip to the bank throws Charlotte's life into an entirely different direction when a restless young man takes her hostage during a robbery, and soon the two are heading south into an unknown future and a most unexpected fate.