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  • Published: 15 October 2013
  • ISBN: 9780099559153
  • Imprint: Windmill Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $19.99

Heading Out to Wonderful




The searing new novel from million copy bestseller Robert Goolrick. A heart-stopping tale of obsession and forbidden love. For fans of The Help, Tigers in Red Weather and The Great Gatsby.

A stranger. A small town. The wife of the town's richest man. There’s no stopping what’s about to happen in this searing new novel from million copy bestseller, Robert Goolrick. For fans of The Help, Tigers in Red Weather and The Great Gatsby.

It is the summer of 1948 when a handsome, charismatic stranger, Charlie Beale, back from war in Europe, shows up in the sleepy town of Brownsburg, Virginia. All he has with him are two suitcases: one contains a fine set of butcher knives; the other is full of money. Charlie should have turned around and walked back the other way, for what follows – the most passionate and tragic story of a forbidden love affair – will threaten to destroy everything and everyone in its path.

Told through the eyes of Sam, a young boy in the town whose world is changed forever by the events of that single year, Heading Out to Wonderful is a suspenseful masterpiece, a haunting, heart-stopping novel of obsession and love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen.

  • Published: 15 October 2013
  • ISBN: 9780099559153
  • Imprint: Windmill Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $19.99

About the author

Robert Goolrick

Robert Goolrick's debut novel, A Reliable Wife, was a number 1 New York Times bestseller and sold over a million copies. He is also the author of the acclaimed memoir, The End of the World as We Know It, and, more recently, Heading Out to Wonderful. He lives in a small Virginia town.

Praise for Heading Out to Wonderful

Deliciously dark and dangerous

O, The Oprah Magazine

A mesmerizing gothic tale of a good man gone wrong ... Finely crafted fiction from a captivating writer

Booklist, starred review

Goolrick’s tale of doomed love resonates like a folk ballad... the narrative builds slowly to its violent climax, packs an emotional punch, and then haunts [its] readers

Publishers Weekly

I love Robert Goolrick’s Heading Out to Wonderful. The novel’s seductive power and the beauty of his writing create a delicious feast.

Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help

Beautifully written... Rich, evocative… passionate and tragic

Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

A writer with a big heart and a deft hand for drama.

Washington Post

This is a beautiful story, told in the kind of sentences Edward Hopper might have written if he had been as good at writing as he was at painting. Darkly romantic, wholly evocative of its forties Virginia setting. He conjures up small town darkness wonderfully. Quite stunning. Read it now.

Matt Haig, author of The Radleys

Robert Goolrick has a warm and easy way with words … He’s crafted a wily novel about place as well as passion, and as you turn the last page, you’ll feel like you’re leaving a tiny piece of your heart in Brownsburg.

Daily Mail

Written with a beautiful sense of compassion Goolrick provides an excellent portrayal of the town’s inherent separation, tradition and frustration … A novel of dreams versus reality, secrets and lies, this is a story of just how far someone can go when they are in love … A terrific read with elements of both The Great Gatsby and Romeo and Juliet. It will keep you on the edge of your seat until its shocking finale.

Daily Express

A beautiful backdropA devastating love story. This book is expert at pulling at the heartstrings, but in an unsentimental way … It’s difficult to come away with a copy of Heading Out To Wonderful that’s not full of underlined phrases and turned-down pages. There is a phenomenal skill in Goolrick’s writing, right from the start. A book worth savouring, re-reading and lending to everyone you know.

Psychologies magazine

A seductive, slow-burning drama of epic place and operatic passion. Wonderful.

Saga magazine

You just have to know what happens

Sunday Times

A beautiful novel with a tangible sense of place and time … It made me hold my breath wondering what would develop … [A] beguiling and devastating novel that provokes feelings of deep joy and sadness.

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