Join us for a reading with Ernest Thompson, the Academy Award–winning author of On Golden Pond, who will read from his new novel, The Book of Maps. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: In the summer of 2002, Brendan Tibbet, a filmmaker whose luck has run low, takes his ten-year-old son Brenlyn on a raucous road trip across America. Following a 1930s travel guide Brendan purchased at a yard sale, the two-week trek from LA to New Hampshire covers sixteen states, hitting the iconic stops along the way, including Yosemite, the Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The journey is replete with wild exploits both hilarious and perilous, but it’s the interior journey that is enlightening, deeply poignant, and life-changing.
The Book of Maps, with its powerful father-son relationship and one man’s relentless albeit unintentional quest to evolve into the better angel we all aspire to be, will capture the imagination of readers and leave them wanting to relive this mad, irresistibly moving, ridiculously funny, reflective, and inspiring cross-country odyssey again and again.
About the Author: Ernest Thompson’s work has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and Writers Guild and Broadway Drama Guild Awards, and has been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy, and a British Academy Award. His plays have been seen in theatres around the world. His most enduring, On Golden Pond, was translated into thirty languages and presented in more than forty countries. Current projects include the film sequel to On Golden Pond, the plays Some Parts Missing and Ask/Answer, and the novel Out Clause, coming in 2023. With his wife, writer Kerrin Thompson, he established Rescind Recidivism, a prison writing program giving inmates a chance to feel creative as well as human, capable, and worthy.
To order The Book of Maps, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
"A good father despite himself; a forgiving child despite it all. Their adventures will make you worry, weep, and laugh out loud."
—Carly Simon
New Dominion Bookshop Book Order Form
Shop local and support your community bookstore! Order books from New Dominion Bookshop by filling out the contact form below. Please make sure that you list the book title(s) that you would like to order. We will give you a call when your order is ready. There is no need to pre-pay. We will collect your payment when you pick up your order or when your order is shipped. If you would like your book(s) to be signed and/or inscribed, please include that information in the “Message for Our Booksellers” field.
Ann Beattie Photo Credit: Ulf Andersen