Solo

The author of bestsellers Wasted and Madness returns with a memoir about living alone on the highway, and observing and experiencing America at a pivotal moment in our history

In June of 2022, Marya Hornbacher was at a crossroads. Appalled by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and on the run from an abusive ex, she abandoned her belongings, left her old life behind, and struck out in a Ram truck pulling a 16-foot Scamp trailer. The road—and the Scamp—have been her home ever since.

Marya’s journey through a divided country has been fraught, beautiful, dangerous, and revelatory. The people with whom she shares the road shed light on the dramatic shifts—political, economic, social—that are transforming American life and culture. In truck stops, diners, campgrounds, and motels, Marya encounters threat and finds safe haven, meets with hostility and kindness, experiences both heartbreak and joy.

Solo is about the rewards and challenges of a deliberately solo life; it’s also the portrait of a nation whose own destiny seems less certain every day. By turns tender and violent, funny and shot through with glimmers of hope, it’s a remarkable story of American resilience and adventure.