The Pull of It

Laura Clarey is unemployed and frustrated when her husband proposes a deal: take a solo vacation to recharge. When she accepts, this wife and mother of one has no way of knowing how it will upend her life; away from her family, she must face the failures of her marriage, the people of her past, and the decisions she has made that haunt her. It is not the first time Laura has run, and as she embarks on her holiday to Turkey, she is emboldened so much that she skips her flight home and boards a bus to the interior of the country, where she will stay for another six months. She tries to keep a tenuous hold on her daughter through phone calls and postcards, and she tries to negotiate with her husband the best she can while forging friendships with Yasemin who Laura finds a job with at a struggling hotel and Paul an expat who she has too much in common with both of whom have made a few deals of their own. As she navigates an unfamiliar landscape and language, Laura works to join what she wants to what she is living, until an accident forces her back to Seattle where she finally must confront the realities of her marriage, including what it means to her to have home and family.