Travel Writing

Assertions that all the world's stories have been told are challenged in this unique novel, one which examines storytelling itself. The protagonist shares the author's name, immediately blurring the line between fact and fiction. Witnessing a fatal car crash hurls him out of his comfortable life as a teacher and occasional travel writer. As the voice of Pete, Anthony Heald is the epitome of an eloquent everyman. Heald shifts his tone seamlessly as he captures all the variations on the "travel writing" of the title with a confident, capable performance. Part personal (and, of course, literal) exploration, part murder mystery, and part metaphysical examination of writing itself--this novel and Heald's delivery of it are certainly worth the trip. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

March 24, 2008
Debut novelist Ferry builds his quietly tricky tale around an English teacher’s amateur investigation into a traffic fatality. Driving home from work, narrator Pete Ferry pulls up beside a car being erratically driven; Pete considers taking action, but before he can, the car crashes into a lamp post, killing Lisa Kim, the young driver. The event haunts Pete, a high school English teacher and occasional travel writer, and he soon neglects his professional duties as he looks into who Lisa was and why she died. Pete is so obsessed with his quarry that he does not notice that his relationship with live-in girlfriend Lydia is failing, though he does turn up leads to Lisa’s heroin connection and a sinister psychiatrist. Or perhaps not: Pete addresses much of his narrative to his English class, and it is not clear whether the reader is meant to believe that the car accident and ensuing intrigues have actually happened, or if Pete has invented them to teach his students a lesson about storytelling. The result is a novel that, for all the cleverness of its construction, is also earnest, engrossing and affecting.

November 1, 2008
Ferry's undeniably clever debut novel, full of metafictional razzle-dazzle, is about a high school English teacher, also named Peter Ferry, who hooks his students on a story of murder and obsession. Patient listeners with a taste for fiction about fiction will find ample rewards, though Anthony Heald's (www.anthonyheald.com) carefully enunciated reading is slightly at odds with the book's conversational tone. This is an admirable title that is nonetheless difficult to recommend as essential since it hasn't resonated in print with a large audience. If you buy strictly on merit, though, go for it. [With tracks every three minutes for bookmarking; audio clip available through blackstoneaudio.com; the Harcourt hc was recommended "for readers interested in experimental fiction and psychological puzzles," "LJ" 5/1/08.Ed.]John Hiett, Iowa City P.L.

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