Publisher's Synopsis
Nineteen year-old Juanna Mae DelRio Lottery was abandoned by her husband and foreclosed out of her house in South Jersey. Left without any resources except for an old Buick, $264, and her own grit, she and Dell-her five-year-old daughter-moved their belongings into the car and drove to a secluded spot deep in the pinewoods.
Juanna planned to stay there until she saved enough travel money to go home to her mother in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. But she made a mistake by applying for food stamps and now they have to leave right away because the Social Service is about to swoop down and take Dell into foster care . . . and if Juanna hadn't lied about her age, they might even take her, too. She should have known better, for as her mother always says, "The road to hell is paved with government intentions." Like Huckleberry Finn's adventures on the river, Juanna's adventures on the road thrust her into a world of oddball characters and precarious situations. Her humorous, moving, and sometimes tragic journey spans thirty years and two continents, and often tests her belief that everything that happens has a purpose and a moral. Ultimately, Juanna not only survives her misfortunes, she conquers them.
