"Novels with heroines past 70 are rare. When they carry a rifle and take a cross-country trip, they’re in a class alone. Author Hastings uses the conceit that the book (in the form of several journals) was found among the papers of his mother, Anna. Hastings explains in an introduction that the journals chronicle Anna’s trip from Tucson back east to tie up some loose ends. The first-person narrative brings readers close to the feisty, often unpredictable heroine who has enough adventures, both inside and outside her, to make her journey a memorable one. In another clever framing device, Hastings reports at the outset that one of the journals has been lost, but Anna’s references to the events described in it allow readers to fill in some of the blanks. Although a concluding scene of self-discovery is a tad overwrought, this is a trip well worth taking."— Leon Wagner, BooklistOnline