(Hell) Hope on Wheels – LL O’Brien
We first came across this author when she walked into our shop! Having been to Oregon and loved it (so much so that we’ve often talked about moving there) we were more than happy to chat to a mother and daughter who hailed from the Beaver State and there’s nothing better than hearing about a book from the woman who wrote it. Although, she spends most of it trying to get out of Oregon.
The book begins when Laura is sixteen, with her father’s death following bypass surgery, which has a huge and hugely varied impact on the family unit. Laura sets the tone early when she tells us that at the time of her father’s death, she “felt hope for the first time.” With an entirely different perspective and trapped in a cycle of grief, Laura's mother decides on a whim to take her and five of her eight siblings on a 4,500-mile cross-country bicycle trip from Willamette, Oregon to New York City. With minimal knowledge and no experience, no one really believed they’d make it to the end. Three years later, four of the siblings set off again, this time to cycle across Europe with even less of a budget or plan than they did the first time and, in between these trips, Laura is faced with all the complexity of “coming home”.
Hell Hope on Wheels is part travelogue, part memoir about what it means to grow up and find yourself within a family that seems to resent your existence at times – let alone your growth. It is also a story about finding faith, but only once you’ve given yourself the freedom to define that term for yourself. Unconventional in pretty much every way, and unflinchingly honest, it’s an enjoyable and inspiring read. Laura isn’t afraid to portray her family, friends and most importantly herself, in a warts-and-all way that makes them all deeply human and relatable. I laughed out loud, I flinched, I added new places to my travel wish list and at times I groaned aloud with frustration.
Another example of how travel and new experiences can change your life in the most unexpected ways, now available at Into the West - and highly recommended.
Until next time, keep reading.
Cate x
