The Road to Tender Hearts: A Novel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals

“A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”—John Irving

AN NPR AND LIT HUB BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left—he’s had three heart attacks already.

But when PJ reads the obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.

Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also thinks he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter who’s adrift in her twenties, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home.

This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a fresh shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.

Annie Hartnett is the author of three novels: THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS (Ballantine/Random House, 2025), UNLIKELY ANIMALS (Ballantine/Random House, 2022) and RABBIT CAKE (Tin House, 2017). The Road to Tender Hearts received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist. Unlikely Animals was listed as one of the best books of 2022 by the Washington Post and BookRiot, and was long-listed for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Rabbit Cake was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017, was a finalist for the New England Book Award, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Annie has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. Annie co-runs Accountability Workshops for writers, helping writers commit to routines and embrace the long, slow, joyful, terrible process of doing the work. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog.

Annie Hartnett’s "The Road to Tender Hearts" is a delightfully chaotic, darkly funny, and profoundly moving novel that blends the eccentricities of a mismatched family road trip with a tender exploration of grief, second chances, and the healing power of connection. Drawing comparisons to stories like "Little Miss Sunshine," the novel follows a cast of deeply flawed but instantly lovable characters who are thrown together by tragedy and forced to navigate their collective trauma while crossing the American landscape. Hartnett balances heavy themes such as addiction, abandonment, and sudden death with her signature whimsy and sharp humor, crafting a narrative that feels both magically surreal and emotionally grounded.

At the center of the story is PJ Halliday, a sixty-three-year-old "man-child" living in the small town of Pondville, Massachusetts. A decade earlier, PJ won a 1.5 million-dollar lottery, but wealth did not shield him from heartbreak. Following the tragic death of his eldest daughter, Kate, on the night of her high school prom, PJ’s life unraveled. His marriage to his wife, Ivy, fell apart, and he spent the intervening years squandering both his time and his fortune at the local bar, numbing his pain with alcohol. Now, having survived three heart attacks, PJ relies heavily on Ivy and her new partner, Fred—who happens to be PJ’s best friend—to manage his daily life. PJ’s existence is stagnant until he stumbles across an obituary for an old romantic rival. He realizes that his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is suddenly single and living at the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona. Invigorated by a rare spark of hope, PJ decides to embark on a cross-country drive to win back his first true love.

However, just as PJ is preparing to hit the road, the universe intervenes with another shocking tragedy. A horrific murder-suicide two blocks away leaves two young children, Ollie and Luna Mecklin, orphaned. In a surprising twist, it is discovered that the children are PJ’s grandnephew and grandniece through his estranged brother, making PJ their sudden guardian. Rather than abandoning his romantic quest, the ever-impulsive PJ decides that the traumatized children could benefit from getting out of town. Recognizing that he is ill-equipped to handle two grieving kids alone, he recruits his surviving adult daughter, Sophie, to join the expedition. Sophie is adrift in her twenties, aloof, and grappling with her own personal demons and a complicated relationship with her father, but she agrees to come along as a babysitter. Rounding out this bizarre travel party is Pancakes, a wry, sarcastic orange tabby cat that PJ recently rescued. Pancakes is a former nursing home therapy cat with the eerie, supernatural ability to predict who is going to die next, adding a layer of magical realism and dark comedy to their journey.

As this chaotic makeshift family piles into a car and leaves Pondville behind, the novel transforms into a distinctly American road trip adventure. Their journey to the Southwest is punctuated by bizarre stops and surreal encounters, including visits to Niagara Falls, an alpaca ranch, a purse museum, and a motel with a tragic gas leak. Their route also includes a detour to Sugar Land, Texas, driven by a quest to determine if a famous soap opera hunk might secretly be Luna’s biological father. Along the way, Hartnett weaves the characters' heavy backstories seamlessly into the narrative through the unconventional framing of bedtime stories that PJ and Sophie tell the children. These nightly tales serve as a mechanism for the adults to process their own lingering guilt and long-held resentments while trying to comfort the orphaned kids.

As the miles roll by, the dynamics within the group begin to shift in unexpected ways. PJ, who has spent years being coddled by those around him, slowly steps up to the plate, morphing into a generous, fiercely protective guardian who buys the kids iPads and treats them with genuine respect. His dwindling bank account becomes an afterthought as he discovers a renewed sense of purpose in fatherhood that he failed to achieve with his own daughters. Similarly, Sophie’s defensive exterior softens as she bonds with Ollie and Luna, finding a sense of grounding in her sudden maternal role. The children, in turn, find solace in finally being surrounded by adults who actually listen to them. Even the looming presence of death—represented by Pancakes’s grim premonitions and hallucinatory vultures chanting from the trees—cannot completely overshadow the life-affirming joy that the family begins to cultivate.

Ultimately, "The Road to Tender Hearts" is much more than a quirky story about an old man chasing a high school crush. It is a profound meditation on the families we are born into and the ones we actively choose to create. Hartnett does not offer neat, fairy-tale resolutions to the crushing weight of grief; instead, she highlights the messy, beautiful reality of moving forward alongside people who love you despite your flaws. With an ending that is both emotionally gutting and deeply uplifting, the novel serves as a compassionate reminder that it is never too late to reinvent yourself, forgive your past mistakes, and embrace the unpredictable journey of life.