Evie Walters Takes the Wheel

In this warmhearted and witty debut, a mysterious gift spurs a widow to take a cross-country journey to find its sender--and along the way, she rediscovers herself.

Evie Walters has lived most of her seventy-one years according to others' expectations. But on the day of her husband's funeral, she receives an anonymous delivery: an egret orchid. The same flower a Montana ranch hand once gave her decades ago--Novel Daniels, the boy who thought she could do anything.

So now, she does.

Defying her children's plans to move her into a retirement home, Evie buys a camper van and leaves life in North Carolina abruptly behind. Accompanied by her devoted rescue dog, she heads west to find her cowboy, befriending an unlikely cast of characters along the way. Free-spirited young vanlifers, roadside waitresses, eccentric billionaires, and kindhearted widowers all show Evie a side of life worth living.

But Evie's drive toward the future takes her back to the past, to memories of the family ranch and childhood dreams. Now, with a second chance as open as the road before her, there's no telling who Evie Walters will become.

(c) 2026 by Kathleen Fox, all rights reserved.

Kathleen Fox is a wanderer, happiest when her van is packed, her dogs are snoring in the passenger seat, and the road ahead promises at least three good stories and one questionable decision. An explorer of back roads, small towns, and the wonderfully weird corners of the world, Kathleen grounds her fictional work in underrepresented rural voices and unexpected moments that only "van life" brings.

When she's not chasing horizons or trading puns with her husband, Kathleen calls the coast of South Carolina home. She is the author of two children's books, and this is her first novel.