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The Long Journey to Jake Palmer

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

What if there was a place where everything wrong in your life could be fixed?

Corporate trainer Jake Palmer coaches people to see deeper into themselves—yet he barely knows himself anymore. Recently divorced and weary of the business life, Jake reluctantly agrees to a lake-house vacation with friends, hoping to escape for ten days.

When he arrives, Jake hears the legend of Willow Lake—about a lost corridor that leads to a place where one's deepest longings will be fulfilled.

Jake scoffs at the idea, but can't shake a sliver of hope that the corridor is real. And when he meets a man who mutters cryptic speculations about the corridor, Jake is determined to find the path, find himself, and fix his crumbling life.

But "fixing things" is rarely that simple, and Jake's journey to healing will become more treacherous with each step he takes.

  • Includes discussion questions for book clubs
  • Christy Award winner for Best Visionary Novel in 2017
  • Standalone novel
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      • Publisher's Weekly

        Starred review from May 23, 2016
        Jake Palmer feels he is on a dead-end road. A corporate trainer who teaches others that everyone is a bottle with a blank label, Jake actually suspects that his own label says he’s not enough. After a physical confrontation at a gas station in Washington state leaves Jake severely burned and his marriage begins to deteriorate, Jake slowly succumbs to self-deprecation and depression. Although his heart isn’t in it, he agrees to join his friends for an annual summer gathering at a lake house. Though he has helped his friends a lot with their own lives, Jake is bitter and no longer trusts God due to the accident that changed his life forever. While leaving a disastrous business trip in Chicago on an airplane, Jake meets straight-talking Leonard, who had snuck into his motivational lecture. In the course of the ride, Leonard persuades Jake to start afresh this year at Willow Lake, where local legend has it that a corridor at the end of the lake is a portal leading to the heart’s desire. Entwined nicely with Jake’s work concerning personal reflection and self-knowledge, the concept quickly takes over the story’s momentum. Rubart’s (The Five Times I Met Myself) style is candid and unobtrusive, making it easy to visualize the beauty and peace of the lake house. Key themes of forgiveness, rebirth, and emotional healing emerge organically through Jake’s struggles. Rubart will leave readers inspired to ponder what the label is on their bottle.

      • Library Journal

        September 1, 2016

        Jake Palmer's life is irrevocably changed when a freak accident burns over half his body. His self-worth always hinged on what he could do, not who he was. Ironically, Jake's motivational speaking career helps others find their inner self-worth while he is unable to do the same. A chance meeting with a stranger on a plane causes him to reconsider his life, offering Jake an opportunity he can't refuse. But our protagonist discovers that true healing can only come from acknowledging the wounds within. VERDICT Two-time Christy Award winner Rubart's (The Five Times I Met Myself) mesmerizing tale about one man's journey of self-realization, forgiveness, and healing, will be appreciated by fans of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead or Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Book clubs will find lots of meaty ideas here.

        Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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    Languages

    • English

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