Orphan Davy David barely manages to scrape by. He keeps to the fringes of town, spending his days in the aging Brownvale library and steering clear of Mr. Kite, who grabs vagrants, throws them in his filthy truck and sells them off.
Davy sleeps near the pauper’s graveyard where his mother is buried, taking refuge in a nest of tangled tree roots. Every day, he paints elaborate archangels in the dirt—but never signs his name.
Circumstances lead Davy to a ramshackle, shuttered museum. Miss Elizabeth Flint, the elderly curator, lives there among dinosaur bones, rocks and relics. With a sour face and a sharp tongue, she’s on a mission. She hires Davy to chauffeur her to her childhood home, where she plans to end her life.
The trip proves monumental. Davy has never driven before, and when the car breaks down, he and Miss Flint steal a truck. With the police on their trail, something strange begins to happen. Nearly 80 years old when they leave Brownvale, Miss Flint gradually grows younger, becoming more vigorous before Davey’s eyes. Confused but undaunted, they persist on the perilous journey. When the two reach Miss Flint’s home, her painful family story is revealed, changing her life and Davy’s forever.
The Road to Ever After is filled with luminous, insightful characters. Moira Young’s writing delights, inspires and challenges us in this more than epic tale of life, love, hope and loss. The beauty and magic of The Road to Ever After will linger long after the book’s covers are reluctantly closed.
Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
