Best adult fiction novel I've read all year. Named my October book of the month. And listed in my top ten for Christmas. 
 I guess having travelled on my own for three plus months just this year (in the US) I related. Perhaps it was the family on the brink of extinction that I related to, having experienced and endured my parents' separation and divorce (in my second year of high school) and then a few relationships from then that didn't survive; the unestablished relationship between Douglas and his son, Albie; the journeys of discovering the self. 
 As someone who felt as though Douglas, Connie and Albie were parts of a whole - or me - was surprising. 
 This book will remain beside my DVD of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty', and my shelf of travel guides and art and inspiration, and things that make me endeavour to search for my purpose in this life, to venture into the unknown, to try new things, to still be careful but even more adventurous than before.