Mother, Nature by Jedidiah Jenkins

From New York Times bestselling author of To Shake the Sleeping Self.

His mother walked across America in the Seventies. Her past fascinates him. Her faith confounds him. They embark on a 5,000 mile journey to discover how families can stay together when beliefs are pulling them apart.

When his mother, Barbara, turned seventy, Jedidiah Jenkins was reminded of a sobering truth: Our parents won’t live forever. For years, he and Barbara had talked about taking a trip together, just the two of them. They disagree about politics, about God, about the project of society—disagreements that hurt. But they love thrift stores, they love eating at diners, they love true crime, and they love each other. He wanted to step into Barbara’s world and get to know her in a way that occasional visits hadn’t allowed.

They landed on an idea: retrace the thousands of miles Barbara trekked with Jedidiah’s father, travel writer Peter Jenkins, as part of the “Walk Across America” book trilogy that became a sensation in the 1970s. Beginning in New Orleans, they set off for the Oregon coast, listening to podcasts about outlaws and cult leaders—the only media they could agree on—while reliving the journey that changed Barbara’s life. Jenkins discovers who she was as a thirty-year-old writer walking across America and who she is now, as a parent who loves her son yet holds onto a version of faith that sees his sexuality as sin.

Along the way, he peels back the layers of questions millions are asking today: How do we stay in relationship when it hurts? When do boundaries turn into separation? When do we stand up for ourselves, and when do we let it go?

Tender, smart, and profound, Mother, Nature is a story of a remarkable mother-son bond and a moving meditation on the complexities of love.

Jedidiah Jenkins is the New York Times bestselling author of To Shake the Sleeping Self and Like Streams to the Ocean. A graduate of USC and Pepperdine University School of Law, Jenkins began his professional career with the nonprofit Invisible Children, where he helped orchestrate multinational campaigns to end the use of child soldiers in central Africa. His parents, Peter and Barbara Jenkins, are the authors of the bestselling A Walk Across America series. He is the executive editor of Wilderness magazine. Jenkins’s work has appeared in The Paris Review and Playboy, and he has been covered by National Geographic.

Author Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Author Hometown: Nashville, TN