The Road to Tender Hearts
- 385
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Road to Tender Hearts” is a warm, darkly funny road novel about a family’s grief. PJ Halliday, a sixty-three-year-old lottery winner, sets off across the country toward his high-school love, with his adult daughter, two orphaned children and a cat that can predict death along for the ride. Its quirky characters and makeshift family lighten the sorrow without hiding it. Readers who like tragedy leavened with humour should try it.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals “A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”—John Irving AN NPR AND LIT HUB BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left—he’s had three heart attacks already. But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back. Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also thinks he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter who’s adrift in her twenties, to come along to babysit.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.5 across 89 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 38% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Rankings average of 7.8. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.5 | 89 | 100% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.