Joyride

A daughter discovers her mother's mysterious, shocking secret.

From Montpelier, Vermont, across the country to Venice, California, Nina Lewis and her mother Joyce are always on the move. They own nothing that can't fit in the back of a van, and they never stay very long in any one place. Home is wherever they are, as long as they're together. But as Nina begins to yearn for a settled life and lasting friendships, Joyce begins to move at a more and more frantic pace. Will Nina ever get the stability she craves? Or will Joyce's compulsion to keep moving cause both their lives to spiral out of control? With finely drawn characters and a frank, compelling narrative voice, Amy Ehrlich weaves a complex story about an unusual mother-daughter relationship—a story that explodes in a final, heartbreaking climax.

Having all her life unquestioningly abided by her mother's decisions to move frequently and remain aloof from outsiders, fourteen-year-old Nina begins to wonder about the reasons for their way of life.

Amy Ehrlich is the highly regarded author of numerous books for children and the editor of the award-winning collections WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE: ORIGINAL STORIES ABOUT GROWING UP, Volumes I and II. She wrote JOYRIDE after moving from New York City to Vermont. She says, "My son, who was in the sixth grade, had a hard time adjuesting. I realized then how difficult moving can be for kids." She has one son and lives on a working farm with her husband. Originally titled WHERE IT STOPS, NOBODY KNOWS, Amy Ehrlich's dramatic novel was published in 1988 to critical acclaim.