A one-way ticket to "Europe on no dollars a day" buys Stephen Kylemore a trip to love, loss and liberty.
With college behind him and nothing to tie him down, Stephen Kylemore yearns to escape a country and a family torn apart by the Vietnam War. Buoyed by his love of literature and a dream of living an odyssey of his own, he buys a one-way ticket for the journey he will come to call "Europe on No Dollars a Day."
Stephen joins young people from around the world on a road with no clear destination. He hitchhikes, sleeps in the woods, looks for work and trades one paperback novel for another to maintain his alternate reality. Sympathetic hosts smooth his path, eager to repay kindnesses they received on their own travels. He finds instant friends and transient romance. His months of travel inevitably reveal the circle of life and make him confront the tension and the passion he left behind.
Travelers of a certain age will recognize a world that seems archaic in this day of debit cards and instant communication. But time and technology don't diminish the universal human experience of survival and redemption, love, loss and liberty that await any traveler breaking trail.
About the Author :
William Michael Ried was born on Long Island, graduated from the University of Michigan and Georgetown University Law Center and has practiced law in New York City for thirty-six years, almost as long as he spent writing this book. He lives with his wife in Manhattan. Five Ferries is his first novel.
Review :
Five Ferries was named a finalist in the 2019 American Fiction Awards in the category Best New Fiction.
"Full-hearted. This debut novel captures the naiveté of a young, wide-eyed American traveling overseas for the first time. It is easy to forget that this is work of fiction. Ried has created a believable and likable first-person narrator that speaks with a simple sincerity. An emotionally engaging travel novel that will prove difficult to put down." - Kirkus Reviews
"Another world. I found myself a new traveling companion. In a book about physical and life-travel, I found comfort and friendship through characters that blended reality and fiction... it is part travel guide, life-guide, food for the soul, fantasy. Vivid imagery, fluid writing, captivating--more than once I sat on the bench in the subway, letting yet another train stop and go on without me so that I could continue exploring Europe's back roads and adventures." - Amazon Reader
"In Stephen, Ried has created a believable and likable first-person narrator that speaks with a simple sincerity." - Midwest Book Review
"Put down your smartphone and enjoy this book. This is a story for those who yearn for timeless memories before the digital and GPS world took over our lives. A wonderful journey crafted in exceptionally well written prose leaving the reader anxious for every new chapter." - Amazon Reader
"Riveting European Backpack Adventure. One reason I became engrossed in the book was that I was living through the author's post college European adventure that I never took myself." - Amazon Reader
"What sets this self-discovery tale apart from other narratives is the device of using exchanges of different classic novels to chart his travels (Grapes of Wrath, Anna Karenina, Ulysses, etc.) - Amazon Reader
"Great read. The trip we all wished we took." - Amazon Reader
