Lissa always considered herself a true Texas girl. She loves Willie Nelson, weekends on a ranch, Texas-style BBQ and Longhorn football. But, as she grows up, Lissa's path leads her far from her home state and things start to get ... complicated. She and her friends drift to the East Coast and her career as a Democratic politico takes off. But her mother, a quintessential Dallas housewife, cannot understand her views, and their relationship fractures over an issue with immense personal and political significance.
Lissa isn't able to reconcile with her mother, Kathy, before she passes away. So, when her father receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, she's determined to mend this rift in her family. She packs up her two kids and heads back to Texas. Caring for her dad over the course of a hot Dallas summer, Lissa relives the path that took her so far from home. Supported by her best girlfriends, her family, and a surprising stranger, Lissa comes to better understand both her mother and herself and makes peace with her father's passing.
A work of women's fiction, Taking the Long Way Home takes its cues from Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood; readers will no doubt laugh and cry. Partially an expat's love letter to the American South in these hyper-political times, Taking the Long Way Home also provides a warmhearted meditation on devoted girlfriends, parents' end of life, the importance of family, and the true meaning of home.