Last Bus to Wisdom

This story has a Huck Finn flavour to it, recast on a 1950s road trip by bus.

Orphan Donal goes from the frying pan into the fire when his grandmother, his guardian, gets sick, and he is farmed out to a nasty-tempered relative he has never met.

After all the talk of Donal having no family, his salvation comes first from Herman, a non-relative who helps him escape back onto the bus that brought him there. The two light out for the West and cobble together what will feel like family in a ragtag bunch of misfits.

This novel is my favorite “just for fun” read of the year! Drawing on his own memories of growing up in Montana in the 1950s, Doig created a coming-of-age-road-trip adventure from 11-year-old Donal Cameron’s POV.

Orphaned and raised by his grandmother, Donal is sent to live with unknown relatives in Wisconsin when Grandma needs “female surgery”—along with his prize autograph book, which he tries to fill with signatures from the cast of characters he meets on the way.

The bus trip alone is worth the read—but when grouchy Aunt Kate decides to send Donal back to Montana, her fed-up spouse,… show more.

Infused with a Western voice, Last Bus to Wisdom plopped me down into my native neck of the woods. Redheaded Donal has never been out of Montana, but that changes in June of 1951 when Gram needs an operation due to “female trouble.” With a wicker suitcase, thirty bucks safety-pinned inside his shirt, and an imagination that gets him into trouble, young Donal takes the Greyhound bound for Wisconsin to spend the summer with Gram’s sister, his only other living relative. Aunt Kate is a bossy broad, to say the least, who’s not at all nice to her sweet-natured… show more.