National Network for Equitable Library Service

South Away is an adventure story of the author's bicycle trip with her sister from Terrace, BC along the West coast to (almost) the tip of the Baja Peninsula. Meaghan Marie Hackinen experiences apprehension and determination as she camps in the dense forests of northern Vancouver Island and in frigid Mexican deserts; encounters strange men, suicidal highways and monster trucks; strong winds and violent storms; flat ties and broken spokes. Her couch-surfacing adventures provide an insight into the "kindness of strangers" en route. Accompanying the travel memoir is an inner journey, related through flashbacks and memories, as the author begins to better understand her relationship with her parents, grandmother, and sister. In attempting to balance risk with safety, she arrives at a minimalist philosophy of living, which requires "physical stamina and mental ingenuity." The style is engaging and personable; the images of landscape and seascape are imaginative and memorable. South Away is a rare roadtrip story--with a female lead and a female companion, a Canadian Hobbit tale of adventure and miraculous events.