Breakfast at the Exit Cafe - by Wayne Grady & Merilyn Simonds (Paperback)

About the Book

What begins as a road trip through America soon becomes a journey of discovery into themselves and into the heart of the next-door neighbour they thought they knew. For Wayne Grady, the thrill of landscape and history is tempered by memories of racism and his own family roots. Merilyn Simonds, her ear tuned for the offbeat, finds curious echoes of the ex-pat promised land she grew up with. Together they travel against the tide of American history, following in the literary tire tracks of John Steinbeck, William Least Heat Moon, and Francis Trollope.
Grady and Simonds experience the splendors of the Mojave Desert, the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River, and the bayou's of Louisiana and the Outer Banks and contemplate the impact of geography on culture and of culture on landscape. They observe America from the outside, yet feel strangely at home.
Part travelogue, part exploration, part mid-winter love story told with wit and acuity by one of Canada's most engaging literary couples, "Breakfast at the Exit Cafe" is a journey into the reality behind the cultural myth that is America.

Book Synopsis

What begins as a road trip through America soon becomes a journey of discovery into themselves and into the heart of the next-door neighbour they thought they knew. For Wayne Grady, the thrill of landscape and history is tempered by memories of racism and his own family roots. Merilyn Simonds, her ear tuned for the offbeat, finds curious echoes of the ex-pat promised land she grew up with. Together they travel against the tide of American history, following in the literary tire tracks of John Steinbeck, William Least Heat Moon, and Francis Trollope.

Grady and Simonds experience the splendors of the Mojave Desert, the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River, and the bayou's of Louisiana and the Outer Banks and contemplate the impact of geography on culture and of culture on landscape. They observe America from the outside, yet feel strangely at home.

Part travelogue, part exploration, part mid-winter love story told with wit and acuity by one of Canada's most engaging literary couples, Breakfast at the Exit Cafe is a journey into the reality behind the cultural myth that is America.

Review Quotes

"Like the great travel writers before them, Grady and Simonds entertain and enlighten in a foreign yet familiar world--a brilliant road trip I didn't want to end."--Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road

"Grady and Simonds bring their well-honed cultural and literary sensibilities to bear on a revealing road trip"--Ronald Wright, author of What is America?

"the narrative in Breakfast at the Exit Cafe flows as easily as a new car on an empty highway"--Globe & Mail Top 100 for 2010

About the Author

Wayne Grady is one of Canada's finest science writers and a Governor General's Award-winning translator. He has authored eleven books of nonfiction, translated fourteen novels, and edited more than a dozen anthologies of short stories and creative nonfiction.

Merilyn Simonds is the author of fourteen books, including the novel The Holding, named a New York Times Editor's Choice, as well as the acclaimed works of literary nonfiction The Lion in the Room Next Door and The Convict Lover, a finalist for the Governor General's Award.