Readers' rating:
Published May 2016
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A delightful novel of self-discovery on the open road as one woman sets out for Graceland hoping to answer the question: Is Elvis Presley her father?
Blues musician Cory Ainsworth is barely scraping by after her mother's death when she discovers a priceless piece of rock 'n' roll memorabilia hidden away in a shed out back of the family's coastal South Carolina home: Elvis Presley's Stutz Blackhawk, its interior a time capsule of the singer's last day on earth.
A backup singer for the King, Cory's mother Honey was at Graceland the day Elvis died. She quickly returned home to Beaufort and married her high school sweetheart. Yearning to uncover the secrets of her mother's past - and possibly her own identity - Cory decides to drive the car back to Memphis and turn it over to Elvis's estate, retracing the exact route her mother took thirty-seven years earlier. As she winds her way through the sprawling deep south with its quaint towns and long stretches of open road, the burning question in Cory's mind - who is my father? - takes a backseat to the truth she learns about her complicated mother, the minister's daughter who spent a lifetime struggling to conceal the consequences of a single year of rebellion.
"[T]he real treasure here is the pitch-perfect voice of [the novel's] narrator. Cory Ainsworth is the best kind of road trip partner - scrappy, smart, and wry - and I enjoyed every minute spent in her charming company." - Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author ofThe Opposite of Everyone
"Wright is an exceptional writer, and her newest book is more than a simple road trip. It's a canny exploration of the dark, seductive legacy our mothers leave us, woven through a transcendent story that evokes the beautiful, gritty spirit of the vanishing American south." - Dawn Tripp, author of Georgia
"Wright weaves masterful storytelling with stunning insight throughout this free-spirited road trip, leaving us with a novel that makes us laugh one moment and weep the next." - Ariel Lawhon, author of Flight of Dreams
"Last Ride to Graceland is an engrossing road trip of self discovery through quirky, small southern towns. The twists and turns kept me captivated from start to finish. If you love Elvis lore, you'll love this book!" - Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author ofA Lowcountry Wedding
"Talk about the ultimate road trip: blues musician Corey Ainsworth hits the road in Elvis's car on a winding journey through the Deep South and her own family history. It's a little bit Elizabethtown, a little bit Walk the Line. I'm so glad I got to come along for the ride." - Anne Bogel, "Modern Mrs. Darcy" blog
This information about Last Ride to Graceland was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kim Wright is the author of Love in Mid Air, The Unexpected Waltz, and The Canterbury Sisters. A two-time winner of the Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing, she has been writing about travel, food, and wine for more than twenty years for magazines such as Wine Spectator, Self, Travel & Leisure, and Vogue. She also ballroom dances competitively. Kim lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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