“When Lavinia Dugan Starkhurst’s wealthy, older husband is struck dead by lightning while playing golf, the former manufactured-home saleswoman and mother of five sets out west from upstate New York on a journey of liberation and discovery. She leaves behind her loving but inept ex-husband, her brood of floundering adult children, a close friend on the brink of divorce, a suitor relentlessly determined to be her next spouse and a hard-to-please housekeeper, all of whom, in one way or another, view her trip as a fool’s errand. If Rabbit Run was John Updike’s answer to Kerouac’s On the Road, then TheAmendment is the pitch-perfect contemporary response to Rabbit Run: a nuanced, witty and insightful exploration of the fetters of family and community that prove impossible to escape. Anne Leigh Parrish is a smart, savvy writer with a gift for exploring landscapes of both geography and emotion. Once again, she has produced a work of considerable charm and poignancy.”—Jacob M. Appel, author of Millard Salter’s Last Day. “Anne Leigh Parrish’s, The Amendment, is a beautifully written story about a new widow’s struggle to wrap her mind around her husband’s death by setting off on a cross-country journey in search of she knows not what. Parrish’s prose is eloquent yet crisp, moving the story along quickly. The Amendment is at times funny, quirky and endearingly touching. A delightful must-read, sure to take its place among today’s top literary fiction!”—Michelle Cox, author of The Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series.When Lavinia Starkhurst’s husband is killed in a freak accident, she takes to the open road and meets a number of strangers, all with struggles of their own. Through these unexpected and occasionally hilarious encounters, Lavinia reflects on her past deeds, both good and bad, explores her two marriages, her roles as caregiver and wife, hoping all the while for self-acceptance and something to give her new life meaning.
