A tale of two families

In Night Road, best-selling author and book club favorite Kristin Hannah gives us a tale of two families, closely linked though opposite in many ways, suddenly torn apart by one heartbreaking mistake.

By the time Lexi Baill is 14—her father disappeared, her mother a drug addict—she has lived in seven different foster homes and gone to six different schools. Kids like her, she knows, are “returnable, like old soda bottles and shoes that pinched your toes.” She’s finally adopted by her grandmother’s sister Eva, who lives in Port George, Washington, where Lexi starts high school.

Also starting high school are Mia and Zach Farraday, twins from a wealthy family on nearby Pine Island. Their mother Jude is the quintessential overbearing, overprotective mother—and she would do anything for them. So when Mia, who is shy and not nearly as popular as the good-looking, athletic Zach, becomes friends with Lexi, Jude opens up her home to her as if Lexi were her third child.

Even in their senior year, when Zach and Lexi realize they have fallen in love, the three remain as close as ever, Zach devoted to his sister, and Mia and Lexi the best of friends. Then college decisions loom over them—Mia wants desperately to attend USC and for Zach to come with her, but Lexi is only able to afford the local city college. Zach is torn, but his impending separation from Lexi becomes trivial following a tragic accident as the three return from a graduation party, and the lives of all are changed forever.

Hannah keeps her readers totally engaged throughout this moving novel, which shifts from a story of young love to an exploration of Jude’s grief, guilt and rage—and ultimately her ability to forgive what happened long ago on Night Road.