Returning East

After a deep personal tragedy, Cadfael abandons his former life in western Oregon and sets out on a final cross-country hitchhiking journey with his adopted stray dog, Lilly. Along a route that partially retraces one of Cadfael's youthful treks west in reverse, they encounter numerous people of many dispositions; benevolent, malevolent, confused, and kind. Their ambiguous destination is western Pennsylvania, where Cadfael did most of his growing up many decades earlier. Because places and separated people evolve independently, no one can ever return home; but maybe Lilly and Cadfael can transplant themselves in a place of former and final refuge.

After a deep personal tragedy, Cadfael abandons his former life in western Oregon and sets out on a final cross-country hitchhiking journey with his adopted stray dog, Lilly. Along a route that partially retraces one of Cadfael's youthful treks west in reverse, they encounter numerous people of many dispositions; benevolent, malevolent, confused, and kind. Their ambiguous destination is western Pennsylvania, where Cadfael did most of his growing up many decades earlier. Because places and separated people evolve independently, no one can ever return home; but maybe Lilly and Cadfael can transplant themselves in a place of former and final refuge.