{"product_id":"escape-from-assisted-living-9781492817734","title":"Escape From Assisted Living","description":"\"Escape from Assisted Living is a wonderful read, extremely funny yet perceptive and moving about families and aging.\"--Deidre Donahue, Contributing Book Editor, AARP\u003cbr\u003e\"Coming-of-age fiction for the older crowd, in which debut novelist Hicks explores the burdens of secrets and guilt.\"-- \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the landmarks of Chicago to the wrong side of the law, Betty Miles' escape from assisted living and her daughter's quest to bring her home will test everyone's assumptions about old age, family, and the kindness of secrets.\u003cp\u003eSharon D'Angelo thought it was a solid plan to move her mother into a senior care facility, but after just three weeks, the octogenarian is already planning her exit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBored with craft projects and the kitchen utensil band, Betty buys a train ticket to Chicago. But having spent her life as a model mother and housewife, she worries about misbehaving; a \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e mother wouldn't disappear like this. Then Betty learns that her late husband-a respectable man-did a little misbehaving himself: there's a safe deposit box stashed away in Chicago, filled with who knows what. Betty has to find the truth, no matter the consequences.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSharon is devastated to find Betty gone; a \u003ci\u003egood \u003c\/i\u003edaughter wouldn't lose her mother like this. She and her husband Vince trail after Betty, discovering along the way that their struggling marriage has its own secrets to confront and that a journey can change a family just as much as it can change an individual.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the sequel \u003ci\u003eOne More Foxtrot\u003c\/i\u003e the women encounter second chances at independence and love. New characters like Vince's mother Mary and surprising old acquaintances and new ones bring new challenges in Elkhart Indiana and Chicago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoyce Hicks' fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003ePassager, \u003ci\u003eUncharted Territory\u003c\/i\u003e, Touch: The Journal of Healing, and others. \"An Outing for Betty,\" the first chapter of \u003ci\u003eEscape from Assisted living\u003c\/i\u003e, appeared in \u003ci\u003eLiterary Mama\u003c\/i\u003e and was named within the editor's ten-best for 2007. This citation along with receiving an honorable mention for Chicago NPR's contest for \u003ci\u003eStories on Stage\u003c\/i\u003e validated her interest in the minutiae of family life, particularly at the gateways to new stages. She coached students in writing at a midwestern university for many years and lives with her pets and husband in northwest Indiana.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Createspace Independent Publishing Platform","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50527655067922,"sku":"9781492817734","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0efec26b-a915-4b3c-b002-c3ab57c0bcbd.jpg?v=1731310657","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/escape-from-assisted-living-9781492817734","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}