The Book of Maps

Description

In the summer of 2002, Brendan Tibbet, a filmmaker whose luck has run low, takes his ten-year-old son Brenlyn on a raucous road trip across America. Following a 1930s travel guide Brendan purchased at a yard sale, the two-week trek from LA to New Hampshire covers 16 states, hitting the iconic stops along the way, Yosemite, the Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, replete with wild exploits both hilarious and perilous, but it’s the interior journey that is enlightening, deeply poignant and life-changing.

Brendan assures the boy that each state will be an adventure, and on the second day proves it, seeing the kid washed away in fast-moving rapids, then foolishly putting them both in danger by refusing to back down to the massive black bear invading their campsite. That’s Brendan, impetuous and foolhardy, inciting trouble wherever he goes, a man with demons and bubbling angst. But neither of those missteps, or the many and scarier ones to follow, can begin to compare to the threatening storm cloud hanging over the expedition: the father’s struggle to find the perfect, worst time to reveal to his son the news that will break his heart and affect everything to follow.

Ernest Thompson’s debut novel is a skillful, magical piece of 20th-century fin de siècle writing depicting a United States that, even in the aftermath of 9-11, seems almost innocent contrasted to the horrors and divisions, racism and rage challenging us now. The Book of Maps, with its powerful father-son relationship and one man’s relentless albeit unintentional quest to evolve into the better angel we all aspire to be, will capture the imagination of readers and leave them wanting to relive this mad, irresistibly moving, ridiculously funny, reflective and inspiring cross-country odyssey again and again.

Praise for The Book of Maps

“A good father despite himself; a forgiving child despite it all. Their adventures will make you worry, weep, and laugh out loud.”
Carly Simon, Singer

“The Book of Maps does take us across country, but our real travelling is through the dissolution of family and the invincibility of parental bonds. Guided by a hapless writer and a precocious child, fueled by Ernest Thompson’s artful prose, our journey is filled with imagination and hilarity, recklessness and courage, inspiration and love. And it’s a hell of a ride.”
Jessica Hoffmann Davis, EdD, ret. Senior Lecturer and Arts in Education Chair, Harvard Graduate School of Education, author of Ordinary Gifted Children: The Power and Promise of Individual Attention

“Ernest Thompson’s novel depicts the ultimate road trip in a rapturous torrent of language that captures the torrent of thoughts we carry with us as we plunge forward through life.  All those suspect attributes emblazoned on so many book jackets are actually deserved here: The Book of Maps is authentically “fearlessly original”, “laugh-out-loud funny”, and “profound.””
Caroline Alexander, Author of the New York Times bestsellers
The Endurance and The Bounty

 “A remarkable compilation of parenting, humor, entertainment and deep emotion. ”
Shirley MacLaine

 “Ernest Thompson has put his cinematic viewfinder to potent use and written a very funny and deeply moving novel. Take a trip across the country without leaving your home, meet a glorious group of wondrous characters filled with hopes and dreams, and dig deep into the pains and understandings of family dynamics.”
Robert Greenwald, Filmmaker