A Taste of Somewhere Else

For fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay comes an escapist and emotional YA coming-of-age novel following a father-son road trip across Spain, with a dash of mystery.

Junior year was supposed to be Miles’s escape plan—survive one year in Cleveland with Jake, the dad he barely knows, then get back to his real life in New York. 

But that was before he got suspended. Before his mom died and left a hole nothing can fill. Before Jake’s art house theater started facing closure—and before Jake dragged him on a half-baked quest across Spain to track down a film director who may or may not want to be found. 

Between wrong turns and cryptic clues through Madrid, Toledo, and Seville, they find themselves at wobbly tables in tapas bars, sharing plates of jamon and squid, talking in ways they never have before. Something unexpected happens over bocadillos and café con leche: Miles stops seeing Jake as the dad who left, and starts seeing him as the person who stayed. 

James Beard Award–winning author Michael Ruhlman delivers a story about grief, second chances, and discovering that home might not be a place you left behind—but a person you’re just getting to know, one meal at a time.Michael Ruhlman is a trained cook and an award-winning author best known for writing about food, chefs, and the work of professional cooking. He has also written for the New York Times, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Gourmet magazine, and other publications. He lives in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.