Ciara Geraghty’s ‘Rules of the Road’ Reminds Us That the Best Journeys are Made With Friends [REVIEW]

Two longtime friends. One brazen, one a worrier. They have always faced everything life threw at them together… until now. Discover the great lengths one woman will go to on behalf of her BFF in what may be the most heartwarming book of the year, Ciara Geraghty’s Rules of the Road.

Terry is all set to surprise her best friend Iris with a homemade cake for her birthday. Sure, Iris told her not to make a fuss and the cake is anything but perfect, but Terry firmly believes everyone deserves to have cake on their special day. She’s just that kind of friend.

After picking up her father, Eugene, from the nursing home where he’s lived since he was diagnosed with dementia, they begin to make their way to the yoga retreat where Iris told her she would be going on holiday. However, when she calls ahead, she learns that Iris never checked in. In fact, she never even made a reservation!

Worried about her friend, she starts investigating, only to find that Iris’s house has also been cleared out. Unsure of what to think, she finally finds the letter Iris left for her explaining where she has gone. Determined not to let her friend make the biggest mistake of her life, Terry and Eugene set off on the journey of a lifetime, to catch up to Iris and to remember that sometimes, rules are meant to be broken.

Rules of the Road is the perfect way to introduce American audiences to Irish novelist Ciara Geraghty’s delicious storytelling. She has that rare gift for creating not just characters on a page, but real people who are fresh, original, and smack of authenticity. Many times while reading this book I couldn’t help but think, “I know someone just like this!” As such, this story holds a marvelous appeal that made me wish the story would never end. I just wanted to live with these beautiful, albeit challenged and imperfect, people just a little while longer.

Geraghty also has a way of writing that is very cinematic in scope. Her sense of place is spot on, and she writes as if looking through a director’s lens, capturing every nuance of every scene. The truly marvelous thing about this is that she does all of this without getting too mired down in lengthy descriptions. It makes for great armchair travel, and definitely has me wishing we could all hit the road again soon on the way to our own adventures.

Most importantly, however, Geraghty writes from the heart. She frequently makes us laugh out loud with crisp dialogue and keen insights into her protagonist’s mind. But she also doesn’t shy away from examining situations that challenge Terry, Iris, and Eugene. There were some points in the novel where my chest tightened and I could feel an ugly cry coming on, and yet, even then, I was helpless to resist Geraghty’s storytelling prowess.

If you miss stories by the likes of Maeve Binchy and Frank McCourt, and adore tales by authors like Jojo Moyes and Susan Mallery, commit the name Ciara Geraghty to memory. She is an author to watch, one who will undoubtedly delight us for years to come and may even become one of Ireland’s brightest literary stars.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ciara Geraghty is the internationally bestselling author of This Is Now, Now That I’ve Found You, Lifesaving for Beginners, and Finding Mr. Flood. She started writing in her thirties and hasn’t looked back.

Born and raised in Dublin, she has three children, one husband, and a dog, who alongside their youngest daughter, is in charge of pretty much everything.

To find out more about the author, visit CiaraGeraghty.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

RULES OF THE ROAD
By Ciara Geraghty
384 pp. Park Row Books. $17.99

Purchase Rules of the Road direct from Jathan & Heather’s Beach Reads Book Shop or from one of these other fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, Harlequin, IndieBound, or Powell’s.