Sideways New Zealand: The Road Back
About this ebook
Miles Raymond thought things were going relatively well.
Miles, the now iconic alter ego of author Rex Pickett—who was first introduced in the critically acclaimed book Sideways and its award-winning movie adaptation—resurfaces on the South Island of New Zealand. All he has in life is a half hectare of Pinot Noir, a guest cottage where his days are numbered, a special needs cat named Max, and a winemaker partner pressing him for a more committed relationship.
These modest assets are balanced by the impending publication of Miles’s new novel, A Year of Pure Feeling. His fledgling publicist has arranged for a book tour that will take Miles along the east coast of New Zealand, from Oamaru to Auckland, to a series of increasingly interesting Kiwi book clubs. In a six-ton camper van! In the winter!
Jack Manse, after a divorce and a financial disaster, has reinvented himself and gleefully volunteers to copilot, too delighted at the prospect of a road trip and a reunion with Miles to heed his friend’s objections.
Alternately blackly comical and poignantly heartbreaking, what started as a book tour through New Zealand becomes a journey through Miles’s soul.
About the author
Rex Pickett is the critically acclaimed author of the novel Sideways, which was adapted into the iconic film of the same title. Sideways was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay, among 350 other plaudits. Pickett is the author of three Sideways sequels—the IPPY Gold Medal–winning Sideways Oregon (previously published as Vertical), Sideways Chile, and now Sideways New Zealand. He is also the author of The Archivist. Pickett is currently working on a post–Sideways New Zealand trilogy. A Southern California native, the Rex Pickett Papers are currently enshrined at Geisel Library on the campus of his alma mater, the University of California San Diego.
