A novel about a cautious daughter and her eccentric, estranged mother venturing west in search of buried treasure—and a way back to each other—before they run out of patience, money, and options.
Complicated, compelling ... Reminds us that humility opens us to the possibility of awe. And as Bea loosens her grip on the story she has always told herself about her mother, she and Christy begin to see each other anew.
Boland is a good-natured writer, but it’s hard to feel positively about a novel that promises a literal treasure hunt and delivers a metaphoric one, in which the real treasure is the friends the women make along the way.
Wry, rollicking ... A madcap mother-daughter adventure about two women on the hunt for buried treasure deep in the American West — and what they uncover instead ... Though occasionally bogged down by long passages about everything from commodities trading to Bea’s seemingly perfect college roommate’s eating disorder that interrupt the book’s flow, Boland’s lighthearted, often amusing depiction of the Thelma-and-Louise-style quest is full of what one might expect from such a setup. There are run-ins with squirrelly characters, dunderheaded mishaps — including a desert hike without sunscreen, enough water or map skills — and true-to-life tension blowups between a woo-woo mother and responsible daughter pair that threaten to derail the entire undertaking. Do Bea and Christy find the bounty? The reveal is, perhaps, beside the point. What carries the novel past the finish line is Boland’s clear sense of complicated, often contradictory family dynamics and how sometimes true love, support and understanding — in other words, life’s real treasures — can be found where and when you least expect it.
