Author:Ben Markovits
Published: 2025
Pages: 256
Prize: Shortlist, Man Booker 2025
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When Tom Layward’s wife has an affair, he vows to leave her once their youngest daughter, Miriam, turns eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to university, he reflects on his broken marriage, health struggles, and a forced leave from work—hidden from his wife. After dropping Miriam off, Tom impulsively keeps driving, seeking closure from his past and an uncertain future.
Complexity
CEFR: B2/C1
Plot Complexity: moderate
Language Complexity: moderate
Ideas Complexity: moderate
Blurb
What’s left when your kids grow up and leave home?
When Tom Layward’s wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact.
He is also on the run from his own health issues, and the fact that he’s been put on leave at work after students complained about the politics of his law class – something he hasn’t yet told his wife.
So, after dropping Miriam off, he keeps driving, with the vague plan of visiting various people from his past – an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son – on route, maybe, to his father’s grave in California.
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