From the acclaimed author of the âwonderfully funny and openheartedâ (NPR) Drinking with Men comes a poignant, wrenching, and ultimately hopeful bookâequal parts memoir and social historyâthat follows the author, after a series of tragic losses, to Northern Ireland, where she finds a path toward healing.
Rosie Schaap had a solid career as a journalist and a life that looked to others like nonstop fun: all drinking and dining and traveling to beautiful placesâand getting paid to write about it. But under the surface she was reeling from the loss of her husband and her motherâwho died just one year apart. Caring for them had claimed much of her daily life in her late thirties. Mourning them would take longer.
It wasnât until a reporting trip took her to the Northern Irish countryside that Rosie found a partner to heal with: Glenarm, a quiet, seaside village in County Antrim. That first visit made such an impression she returned to make a life. This unlikely placeâin a small, tough country mainly associated with sectarian strifeâgave her a measure of peace that had seemed impossible elsewhere.
Weaving personal narrative and social history, The Slow Road North is a moving and wise look at how a community can offer the key to healing. Itâs a portrait of a complicated place at a pivotal timeâthrough Brexit, a historic school integration, and a pandemicâand a love letter to a village, a culture, and a country.