So what would happen if your country went to crap while you weren't in it? If a radical political group took over, if dissenters were arrested, if the president were assassinated? If you finally made it home after walking across a good chunk of New England, only to find your parents gone without a trace? That's what happened to Radley. Getting to Canada is her safest option, and it's not an option that's all that safe. 
 A weirdly sort of political apocalypse that feels more realistic than any of the technological or environmental ones that are swirling around. A slow, eerie tone and a plot that will appeal to fans of other long-journey-on-foot books (Small as an Elephant, Homecoming, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon).