Book Giveaway For Promise of Departure

[close] Facing divorce, an alcoholic mechanic packs his motorcycle and heads to Haiti to repair his own shattered life, unprepared for the love that awaits him there...

Praise for Promise of Departure

"Montgomery's debut recalls aspects of Laurence Sterne, with an introspective protagonist both pursued and pursuing some great intangible, the destination secondary to the many digressions along the way ... The colloquial manner that Greg engages with his own challenges, from dropped bikes to sleepless nights, steers the book clear of heavy-handedness...Engrossing prose..." - Kirkus

"A story of true guilt and regret in such a powerful, dramatic setting ... sometimes difficult and depressing to read. But then, life itself is not always a bed of roses...it does tell it like it is."
- Reader Views

"Throughout the novel, Greg deals with themes not uncommon to many 'Gen-Xers' today: finding success at an early age only to ask themselves 'What now?' as they wrestle with the knotty untangling of self-imposed guilt, uncertain if the efforts, the very work itself, ever truly warranted the huge rewards ... It will challenge you. It will not leave you warm and cozy at points, though for some readers so troubled as Greg finds himself, it may often do precisely that. Ultimately, this is one of the braver debuts I've seen in quite some time. Greg would likely call it 'calculated stupidity'. I call it a calculated success." - OED & R


My dearest little Maggie,

I'm sorry in ways you may never understand. Please know that I never wanted to leave you....

It wasn't the traditional birthday letter Greg had written his daughter four times before. But traditions, like everything else, had utterly unraveled.

Lonely, depressed, and adrift in a society he no longer recognizes, Greg is rattled in unexpected ways by the heartbreak in Haiti that clear January morning when he spots an unusual opportunity in the looped nightly news, something he can do - a small way he just might be able to help.

Promise of Departure chronicles Greg's reawakening as he wanders the broken Haitian countryside repairing motorcycles and shedding the self-centric values of a lucrative past; a nomadic mechanic stringing purposeful days together in a desperate attempt to save his own life. Maybe it's a way through, or a way to rattle other things free. Maybe it's just a way out. But at least it's something different.

Facing divorce and an anesthetized hereafter, Greg shucks tradition and packs his motorcycle, headed to a shattered country to unexpectedly find the one thing he's abandoned.


Readers may also enjoy the following:
Jupiter's Travels |  The Sea Wolf |  Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road |  The Bell Jar |  Life of Pi |  The Great Gatsby |  The Road |  Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work |  The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey |  Gravity's Rainbow |
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

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