A Perfectly Reasonable Plan: A Novel
About this ebook
Six-year-old Adalia Wright has an unusual way of processing grief. She buries dolls in the backyard. She reads National Geographic for tips on Aboriginal and Aztec death rituals instead of reaching for storybooks. And she has recently attempted to mummify the family cat in vegetable oil and towels--an indignity the cat, for the record, thoroughly enjoyed.
Her grandmother Winnie has had enough. Convinced Adalia would be better off with her maternal grandparents, she rounds up her husband Abe and her two elderly siblings, loads everyone into an aging van, and sets off on a two-day drive. A perfectly reasonable plan.
Nothing about it is reasonable.
What begins as a straightforward trip accumulates, almost against its will, a socially anxious stranger, a prickly hedgehog, and a three-legged rescue dog. Mechanical failures pile up. Wrong turns multiply. Siblings revolt. And somewhere between heartbreak and hilarity, Winnie begins to wonder whether she had the whole thing backward all along--and whether the stubborn, peculiar little girl she was desperate to let go might be the very thing holding her heart together.
Darkly comic, warm-hearted, and sneakily wise, A Perfectly Reasonable Plan is a story about the families we're given, the ones we accumulate along the way, and the wonderful love that refuses to stay behind.
About the author
Holly Varni grew up in Minnesota surrounded by grumpy grandparents, eccentric neighbors who thought nothing of mowing their lawns in pajamas, or were addicted to the Home Shopping Network and filled their house with porcelain dolls. These treasured childhood experiences planted the seeds for her storytelling, nurturing her gift for capturing the humor, wisdom, and charm of small-town life. She lives along the Central Coast of California with her husband and their three grown sons, however, her beloved Midwest roots continue to influence everything she writes. When she isn’t working on a book (or three at the same time because that is how her mind works), she is either tucked in her favorite chair with a blanket reading a book, or listening to an audiobook while doing a puzzle. Connect with her online at hollyvarni.com; Instagram: @hollyvarni; Facebook: @hollyvarniwriter; X: @hollyvarni
