Moon Road unfolds beautifully and slowly like peeling away the petals of a flower in Kathleen's garden. It was a pleasure to watch these two intimate strangers react so differently to the same life problems being thrown at them. The open and unfinished ending is perfection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I truly didn't know what to expect going into this but I'm sure glad I started it. I have thought about this book and Una so much since reading it. It is a devastating and heartbreaking book that will rip your soul out. Are you sold yet? No. Okay well it's also a book about love and family and hope. Not convinced yet? It takes place in Canada. This is definitely going to be a must read author for me. Excellent novel.

Thank you to the publisher for providing the arc for a honest review.
NO Spoilers...
This book took me to the core of my heart as a mother and how grief of your only child/daughter who has been missing over the years (20 years)… and how she as a mother manifested in that time. Also, the father who also grieved in his way to be able to just continue with life and his other children.
The author kept the storyline entwined closely with the daughter’s experience with her parent’s memories and current timelines.
This book is definitely character-driven with the plot unfolding with the past and present.
The road trip by both parents throughout Canada from east to west after 20 years of their missing daughter was a bonus for me being a Canadian and having concept of miles…kms ;) travelled and landscape. 5 glorious stars from me😊

Four and a half stars.

A haunting, undulating look at the ebbs and flows of love, of aging, of loss - of ordinary life, made extraordinary, then settling back (over time, and pain, and anger and grief) into what is, after all, a life-story maybe live-able after all.

Kathleen, one of our two main protagonists, is, by the reckoning of her from friends, somewhat of an “asshole”. At sixty-five years old, Kathleen has survived, just barely, the loss of her twenty-ish daughter, Una, who disappeared in remote British Columbia more than twenty years ago. Laced with insurmountable grief that rears its ugly head often as bitterness and anger, Kathleen can be unpleasant, caustic, and aggressive to literally everyone in her path, including her closest friends and her ex-husband, Yannick, who as Una’s father, is suffering every bit as equally.

Yannick, seventy-three years old, is by all accounts, a gentle man, with echoes of a thread of violence and rage within that has been worked out of his system fifty-years ago. Divorced many times (beginning with Kathleen, his first wife) Yannick’s quest for love and solace has, if anything, intensified since the loss of his eldest daughter.

As Yannick and Kathleen, in the present day, travel to BC to witness a possible lead on Una’s case, their backstories, and their very complicated feelings for each other, slowly unpeel, taking the reader on a winding, meandering journey, captured in each of their voices, across a lifetime of timelines.

Heartbreakingly thick with the emotional remnants of what could best be described as the radiating infection of their loss, Yannick and Kathleen’s story (both in the past, and including the present day) is affecting, immersive, and brilliantly told.

A lovely poignant read, graceful in its handling of terrible events, and the characters forever stained by its traces.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Moon Road is an interesting book about a couple who are looking for answers and closure related to a family mystery. The exposition hooked me but then it continued for quite some time. I felt like I had enough of a background story on Kathleen and Yannick to understand their motivations after the first few chapters however the background continued almost through every chapter thereafter. The pacing was a little slow for me. I almost stopped reading a couple of times however there was enough of a mystery that I wanted to read through to find out how it all resolved. The book leaves no loose ends. It's ultimately about a couple finding closure and finding a way forward through tragedy. I appreciated how the mystery was revealed even if it wasn't what I was expecting. As a fellow Canadian I loved the Canadian Scenery and being transported into this couples' messy lives in this book and finding hope.

Thank you for the opportunity to review the book.

Moon Road is a wonderful book about a divorced couple who have to go on a multi day road trip to help get answers to a family mystery.

I ended up DNFing at 61%… This book had wonderful detail about the scenery, and the characters were very well described. I thought the characters of Yannick and Kathleen were wonderful represented, and were very flawed which was very nice to see. Unfortunately this book was just too slow of pacing for me, it was getting to the point where the very intriguing plot just wasn’t cutting it. I plan to take a break from the book just to see if that’s what I need right now. I will update when I’ve finished the book.

This book follows Kathleen and Yannick, an older separated couple, on a cross-Canada journey to figure out the "mystery" of what happened on the other side of the country. Throughout the road trip, they fight, argue, make up, then fight again, but remain focused on the issue at hand.

As a fellow Canadian, I always get excited seeing books based in Canada. Especially ones that have Indigenous characters. This book is slightly different than what I would normally pick up, but I was hooked within the first few chapters trying to figure out the "mystery." I will say I was a little disappointed with the ending, but glad there was an explanation. I loved how descriptive the book was, giving me a chance to imagine the different provinces I have yet to travel to. I would definitely pick up another book from Sarah Leipcigar.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Sarah Leipciger for the opportunity to read Moon Road in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very different from my typical genre, but I really think that that speaks volumes because I really enjoyed it. I have read so many books lately that fell flat for me for the simple reason that you don't get to know enough about the characters before really diving in. This was absolutely not the case for Moon Road. This book felt so real, in such a beautiful way. This story of grief, pain, life after loss and growth.

Sarah Leipciger's writing was so incredible, I felt like I was transported into Kathleen and Yannicks bubble just observing their journey from afar. Most importantly, and what I appreciated, was that at its core, this book felt human. It felt so incredibly real.

Kathleen and Yannick, once married, now long divorced, have agreed to meet after 19 years without any contact. Their daughter, Una, has been missing for over 20 years but recently they learned that bones have been discovered on Vancouver Island that might be hers and the coroner is requesting Kathleen’s DNA for comparison. The tests can be done where she lives in Ontario but she knows Yannick wants to go out to BC to see where she may have died, hoping for closure and he wants Kathleen to go with him. The problem is Yannick is afraid of flying and Kathleen has no desire to spend the several days of driving with her ex that it will take to get there. Still after a disastrous annual party Kathleen has for Una, she agrees and the pair set out on a road trip. In the process, they will bicker, reminisce, and grieve together but, most of all, they will rediscover the strong bond that had once held them together even after their divorce.

Moon Road, by Sarah Leipciger, is a beautifully written tale of love, loss, grief, and the renewal of old ties. It is, at times, poignant, heartbreaking, and hopeful. The story moves between present and past as we learn more about their early lives, about how the lack of resolution to Una’s story has affected them and coloured their lives. Kathleen, always head-strong has become a curmudgeon, rude, angry and seeming without empathy, indifferent to the needs of others, her only interest outside of Una’s disappearance, is her flower-growing business. Yannick has thrown himself into work, through several marriages producing several children but always unable to throw off the sorrow caused by Una’s disappearance and the inability to find closure. The tale is interspersed with chapters detailing the story of a young girl referred until the very end as ‘our girl’.

The pace here is slow but that isn’t a criticism. This is a quiet, almost contemplative tale. Leipciger’s beautiful, almost lyrical descriptions of Kathleen’s garden and the changing nature and vastness of Canada kept me enthralled partly, admittedly because I have made my own road trips across Canada and I know many of the places she references. I even enjoyed the humour expressed as Yannick sees the Wawa goose for the first time - it really is quite impressive.

But it is not just the descriptions of Canada’s beauty and changing landscapes that kept me engaged. Leipciger has an amazing ability to not only introduce her characters and to tell their stories but to bring us into their lives, to feel what they are feeling, to evoke empathy and acceptance of their failings even when they seem as unlikable as Kathleen. A beautiful tale, one that will stay in my thoughts for a very long time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

'Your kid is two people: the one that belongs to you, needs you, and the one that does not. Una, she is neither and she is both'.

I don't know how I haven't heard of this author, especially as she is a CanLit author (even if currently living and raising her family in England), but this book was hauntingly beautiful. A total character study on grief and family. Love and Loss. It's about being fractured within and yet somehow surviving. Kathleen isn't likeable at all...but I suspect we know that no one would be after losing their daughter. Or at least that is what I attributed the obnoxious traits to. Her daughter's memory held in a party each year and the behaviours just seemed...ugh. But you cannot say that about Kathleen without understanding what trauma does to a person. And so I know, that the author must have written her specifically that way, for that reason.

The majority of the novel is the reconnection of Yannick and Kathleen, the parents of Una who disappeared 19 years ago. As the reader can expect, there are uncomfortable moments on the car ride. Both with rediscovering the pain of that loss and perhaps the blame too...but there's also age of themselves that feels heavy because time has marched forward and parts of them have not.

Bottom line, if you enjoy Lit Fic, then try this one. It's heavy and frustrating but a real life character study of how two parents go on...or don't.

Una went missing almost 20 years ago. Her parents, Kathleen and Yannick, got into a pretty big fight after that. Not right away. But they got into a fight on their front porch and Kathleen may have thrown some things at Yannick. Things like a folding table, perhaps even an ashtray that left a good scar. Since that moment they haven't shared a word between them. Until now.

Yannick called Kathleen and let her know he's coming to town. 19 years without a single word and now he's back. They've each received phone calls from B.C., where Una was living when she went missing. Remains have been found and they want to do DNA testing to establish the identity of them..

Yannick plans on driving out there. He hates flying. He wants Kathleen to go with him. It takes some convincing, and it doesn't happen right away, but what follows is a road trip across Canada that you won't soon forget.

The dialogue is thick with history and feelings, each interaction pregnant with explosive potential, good or bad or some mixture of both. Sometimes what isn't said is just as loud or louder than what is said.

The emotions are raw and easily felt. We get it. Or, at least, an approximation of it. I really appreciate the ease with which you feel this book and the characters within. I found this to be a very moving and enjoyable story. Recognizing the pain at the heart of it and the observation that Canada is a country of missing women, some looked for more than others, it is hard to say that this is a feel-good story but it certainly isn’t a feel-bad read. Like life, it just is.

The characters and scenes confront some heavy topics and feelings but Sarah Leipciger does so with a tenderness that connects with readers on a very human and humane level. There's a lot packed into this story. Read it, feel it, and enjoy it. I know I did.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. The book was underwhelming. The main characters had been estranged for 19 years and reconnect to travel from Ontario to British Columbia after some news there missing daughter’s remains may have been found. The book explores, grief, trauma, loss and familial bonds. It was well written but was a very lengthy telling of a journey filled with grief.

LOVED this book! It is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. Kathleen and Yannick married, in Ontario, and had Una. Although they divorce, Kathleen and Yannick remain friends until a fight. Meanwhile Una disappears. 19 years after the fight both receive a phone call that bones have been found on Vancouver Island. Set in both the present and the past, and told from multiple perspectives, this was an excellent story! I loved grouchy, tell it as it is Kathleen, and romantic Yannick (who has multiple wives after Kathleen). A beautifully written, tragic tale.

I have been struggling with this book for a few weeks. I find the characters quite unlikable, which in turn makes me not really care to read it. I have read so may incredible reviews that I know I really need to dig in and enjoy the ride, but at this point I'm still on the struggle bus.

This was outside my norm but I throughly enjoyed it!

Katherine is just stuck. She has her routines, and her habits and doesn’t want change. She also wants everyone else to stay in roles she has given them. As you read along with her story, you understand how she got to be so stuck and what it might take to release her from it.

It’s very rare that the main characters of a book are in their mid sixties and early seventies, but that is Katherine and Yannick. We are with them through a commute across Canada after they haven’t spoken in almost 20 years. And I love how real it seems! Hours of awkward silence while they drive, only to make small talk about things that don’t really matter. So authentic in how conversations can go after years of not talking.

Being Canadian, I love the Canadian settings. The city names, the west coast scenery with the giant cedars that seem otherworldly. It is nice to read about places and fully understand and know exactly what they are talking about.

As the reader follows Katherine and Yannick, there are flashes of their past, how they met, how they fell in love, how they remained friends, and what caused the fight to end it all. There are also bits from what is perceived to be Una’s point of view. You learn what she was dealing with and how she felt without giving away too much of the story. Some of it is a little tense and unnerving but moving and insightful at the same time.

While this book may sound heavy, as it is about grief, loss, and suffering, it is an enjoyable read. Even with the heavy subject matter it was beautifully written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC of this novel!

Kathleen and Yannick haven't spoken in nineteen years. Once they would claim to be the love of one another's lives; parents to Una, and eventually friends in raising their daughter. However, Una's disappearance in Victoria BC twenty years before has driven a wedge between them. As they travel to BC from Ontario to uncover the mystery of what happened to their daughter, they begin to connect and bond over their shared history and shared tragedy.

Moon Road was a very enjoyable book where the tragedy of Una haunts each page, and the reader is not quite sure what ti make of the main characters, Kathleen and Yannick. Kathleen is obviously haunted by her daughter's life and disappearance, but still acts questionably twenty plus years later. Yannick clearly is still in love with her, and the complicated relationship between the two is a compelling conflict. I enjoyed the writing style, and truly couldn't put the book down! I thoroughly enjoy complicated characters and well written dialogue. As a Canadian it was also a treat to see this one set in places I know well and love!

Overall, the exact type of suspenseful and complicated story that I can get lost in!

Fiction | Adult
[Cover image]
A long-divorced Ontario couple hit the road together to drive to Vancouver Island on Canada’s west coast, hoping to find out what happened to their daughter, Una, who disappeared there more than two decades ago. Kathleen and Yannick haven’t spoken for 19 years, but a phone call letting them know that the bones of a young woman have been found on the island pulls them together. The drive is a long one, 5,000 kilometres, giving them time to talk about the past, their past. Yannick has aged; time has made him mellower than ever. Kathleen has grown strong, perhaps more stubborn? Most of the story is in present time, with flashbacks to both the initial search for Una and even to Una on the day of her disappearance. It’s a story of loss and of hope, of a marriage and of shared pain and heartache. It’s also funny and touching even as these two aging characters struggle against physical pain and long-ago hurts. The road trip is long – it takes fully half the book, and by the end you feel like you know these people as well as you do your best friend. I came for the road trip from small-town Ontario (Bobcaygeon, I think?) to B.C., and fell in love with Leipciger’s lyrical and powerful writing: “Growing up is, in its way, a little bit like a death. Your kid is two people: the one that belongs to you, needs you, and the one that does not.” I did find this couple, roughly my age, to be rather old-fashioned in their speech, referring to a baby’s “milky thighs” and recalling their child coming home “brown as a berry” after summer camp. And oh my goodness, do they ever smoke, for two people who have allegedly quit… A brilliant, sometimes heartbreaking story of a couple trying to find peace in the face of a never-ending pain. This will remain with me for a long time. My thanks to Viking for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214194644

Sarah Leipciger‘s novel Moon Road is a slow sad read. It is a story about loss and hope. This character driven book can’t be told fast it must be told gradually – we need to get to know the characters, it can’t be rushed. This book is a journey with two very interesting main characters. Leipciger descriptions of locations are flawless, from the immense roads through Canada, to the small run-down towns and diners, to the of the impressive mountains.
This is beautifully written story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the digital ARC..

This book was appealing to me on many levels - the cross-country Canadian road trip, the "mystery" surrounding Una's disappearance, the dynamics between 70-something parents Kathleen and Yannick, reunited on said road trip to head to BC upon learning of the discovery of some remains (some 20 years after Una was last seen). The book is set in present day and has flashbacks to when una first disappeared and the couple travelled to Tofino where she was last seen, with snippets of Una herself's last days as well as flashbacks to

This is a beautifully written (if somewhat slow=moving at times) novel that deals with loss, trauma, grieving, family, forgiveness, healing, anger and love. Kathleen will grow on you as the novel progresses (she comes across as quite unlikable at times but she's forgiven a lot as losing a child and not knowing where they are for so long must make for indescribable pain and trauma). The "mystery" aspect of the book ("What happened to Una?") provides some momentum and suspense in a long-ish novel but you'll keep turning the pages as well because the writing and characters are compelling.

A beautiful read.

Beautiful writing style and I loved the Canadian references however I found the pacing to be rather slow. I wanted to skim at parts to get to the mystery. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.