Teenager Sophie does not know her father, Rich, but when he suddenly contacts her and invites her to join him on a 6 day backpacking trip through the Tasmanian wilderness, Sophie agrees. Sandy, Sophie's mother, is suspicious of Rich but reluctantly agrees to the trip. As the hike begins, Sophie soon realizes that her father is not quite the outdoorsman that he thinks he is, and this over-confidence leads to a disastrous chain of events on the trip. The story is told through the alternating perspectives of Sophie, Rich, and Sandy as each presents him/herself to other people as something other than what they are actually feeling. Each has the desperate need to connect to others but struggle with how to do that.
I enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down during the last 75 pages or so. I found the main characters to be a little irritating, but I think that was deliberate on the part of the author. Sophie will appeal to teen readers, but adults will identify with Sandy's and Rich's struggles with with middle age and the lost dreams of youth.
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