Ten years after his father’s disappearance, Gordo Jenkins is on the brink of turning his life around. He’s about to finish college and pursue his filmmaking dream, and he’s fallen in love with Eleanor after a chance encounter in a New York City clinic. But then he’s confronted with news of his missing father’s whereabouts and must decide if he wants to put his life on hold again to see him. A few days later, Gordo and Eleanor begin a cross-country drive to Mexico to unravel the mystery of why his father left – and confront the mystery of their own lives along the way. Touching the Universe is a novel about three generations of an American family coping witha father’s disappearance and unfolds against a backdrop of historical events, from the Apollo 11 moon landing and Chappaquiddick in 1969 to the Reagan-Carter election in 1980. It’s a coming of age story about hope and longing, the glow of everyday wonders and the transforming power of single events.
Listen to an excerpt of Touching the Universe at RNZ.
