"Escape from Assisted Living is a wonderful read, extremely funny yet perceptive and moving about families and aging."--Deidre Donahue, Contributing Book Editor, AARP
"Coming-of-age fiction for the older crowd, in which debut novelist Hicks explores the burdens of secrets and guilt."--
Kirkus Reviews
From the landmarks of Chicago to the wrong side of the law, Betty Miles' escape from assisted living and her daughter's quest to bring her home will test everyone's assumptions about old age, family, and the kindness of secrets.
Sharon D'Angelo thought it was a solid plan to move her mother into a senior care facility, but after just three weeks, the octogenarian is already planning her exit.
Bored with craft projects and the kitchen utensil band, Betty buys a train ticket to Chicago. But having spent her life as a model mother and housewife, she worries about misbehaving; a
good
mother wouldn't disappear like this. Then Betty learns that her late husband-a respectable man-did a little misbehaving himself: there's a safe deposit box stashed away in Chicago, filled with who knows what. Betty has to find the truth, no matter the consequences.
Sharon is devastated to find Betty gone; a
daughter wouldn't lose her mother like this. She and her husband Vince trail after Betty, discovering along the way that their struggling marriage has its own secrets to confront and that a journey can change a family just as much as it can change an individual.
In the sequel
One More Foxtrot
the women encounter second chances at independence and love. New characters like Vince's mother Mary and surprising old acquaintances and new ones bring new challenges in Elkhart Indiana and Chicago.