cover image Ford Road

Ford Road

Amy Kenyon. Univ. of Michigan, $24.95 (232p) ISBN 978-0-472-11820-5

This debut novel from historian Kenyon (Dreaming Suburbia) is at once haunting and hopeful. After the death of her mother in 2003, Kay Seger returns to her childhood home in Middleville, Mich. While struggling through her grief, Kay reunites with her first love, Joe Chase, a Vietnam vet she hasn’t seen since his return from the war. Kay, who works as a historical consultant for Hollywood, explores her lineage in an effort to deal with the enveloping emptiness and longing she feels, but as she becomes enmeshed in the history of her mother’s family, Kay uncovers the dangers of nostalgia—for a bygone era, a lost family, and first love—leading her down a depressing and dangerous road. Kay’s story is deeply rooted in the development of Detroit and the suburbs that sprang up around it. The nostalgia for Michigan’s industrial age glory is neatly juxtaposed against the nostalgia Kay feels for her family and for Joe. Unfortunately, the stories of the past are far more captivating and evocative than Kay, Joe, and the present. (July)